MiD DAY finds Pune city chemists willing to sell pill sans doctor's prescription
MiD DAY finds Pune city chemists willing to sell pill sans doctor's prescriptionu00a0
Even fter the state Health Minister made an announcement stating that the government has decided to restrict the sale of abortion pills by strictly enforcing the rule prohibiting the dispensing of medicine without a prescription, MiD DAY has found that it is not difficult to get the pillu00a0-- prescription or notu00a0-- in the city.
It's a cinch: A MiD DAY reporter asks for an abortion pill at a chemist
store in the city and finds it can easily be procured even without
a prescription. Pic/krunal Gosavi
For the past few days, officials across the state have upped their efforts to prevent sex selective abortions and sex determination tests across sonography centres. Last month, the entire state was shaken after nine female foetuses were found in a drain in Beed district.
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Under fire for the falling sex ratio and rising female infanticide, health officials started conducting raids across sonography and abortion clinics besides announcing a slew of measures to stop female foeticide. Dr Suresh Gupta, additional director (family welfare), said that the focus was on MTP clinics and over-the-counter sale of abortion pills.
"Apart from sonography centres, the important part is to stop girl child abortions. That's why we have started raiding MTP clinics and the state government has also decided to strictly ensure no abortion pills are sold without prescription or unless it is really needed," he said.
Field test results
To verify reports from the medical fraternity that abortion pills are not so difficult to get, MiD DAY visited 10 pharmacies spread across the city. Five of the 10 pharmacies refused to give the abortion pills without a doctor's prescription. But what happened at the other five pharmacies was shocking ufffd they not only gave the drugs without a prescription, but also did not ask the customer's age.
What is more, when asked for a bill, the chemists asked whether a doctor had referred us, and when the reply was in the negative, they simply scribbled a fictitious name and gave us a bill. Vijay Changediya, secretary of Chemist Association of Pune District, expressed his displeasure at chemists indulging in such acts and said that the association would act against them.
"We conduct regular seminars and have also issued circulars asking chemists not to dispense abortion pills without a prescription. This is important not only to stop female foeticide but also for the health of the woman, who might have serious complications if she pops these pills without consulting doctors. If we find chemists doing such acts, we will definitely take strict action from the association's side," he said.
Gynaecologist Dr Sanjeev Khurd said that not only can taking pills without prescription lead to severe complications like bleeding and infections but also to permanent problems like loss of child-bearing capacity or, in extreme cases, even death.
"If supposing a woman doesn't have pregnancy in uterus but tubal pregnancy, she might take a pill and think she has aborted. But abortion might not happen and it might lead to severe complications later, even resulting in internal bleeding and need for complicated surgery, et cetera. Sometimes if dosage is not right or if termination isn't done properly, the foetus might still remain in the womb. A doctor always does a scan to ensure there are no remains that can cause bad infections, but if someone self-medicates they don't do this and will face many problems," he said.
(With inputs from Neha Taneja)
Part III of a series on female foeticide prevention
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