WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 62-Page ICRW 2014 Report:
http://www.icrw.org/sites/default/files/publications/QoC%20Bihar%20Report%20FINAL_0.pdf
India
– Very Dirty Facilities Imperil Bihar's Sterilised Women
Most facilities
even lack the very basic, minimum necessary equipment, drugs and supplies for
sterilisation, a study found
Saumya
Tewari | April 27, 2015
These were the
results of an audit of public healthcare facilities offering surgical
sterilisation procedures in the eastern state of Bihar, which boasts India’s
highest fertility rate of 3.5 children per mother—against the all-India average
of 2.4—and struggles to contain its population.
The audit is part
of a five-district study
conducted by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), based in
Washington D.C. Apart from the “unsanitary environment”, the study said: “Most
facilities even lack the very basic, minimum necessary equipment, drugs and
supplies for sterilisation, with some lacking simple essentials, such as
scissors and narrow forceps.”
The fallout:
Fever, bleeding, pus and other problems
The state of
healthcare facilities was worst in the largest hospitals at the main district
towns. More than half of women suffered sepsis, or infections, from their
sterilisation wounds. The problems included fever, bleeding, pus and problems
with sutures.
Source:
ICRW
The
objective of the ICRW study was to provide evidence on the gaps in family
planning services for women as well as efforts needed to improve the quality of
such services in Bihar.
These are some of
the conclusions of the ICRW study:
Source:
National
Family Health Survey
High risk of
simple sterilisation
In an incident
that led to much soul-searching in India last year, 16 women lost their lives
in Chhattisgarh to failed sterilisation procedures.
This was not an
aberration, as IndiaSpend reported.
Our analysis of
national health data revealed 200 deaths ever year between 2009 and 2011.
A preliminary
inquiry into the Chattisgarh deaths revealed that the first camp held on
November 8, 2014, carried out 137 operations, ignoring government orders
restricting sterilisation operations per day to 30, India’s Minister for Health
and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda said in a statement to the Lok Sabha.
Nadda also said
the operation theatre was not working, and adulterated medicine was given to
the women who died.
However, larger questions emerged after the incidents regarding better practices at health centres. The ICRW report from Bihar indicates that while there have been some improvements over the years in physical infrastructure, such as electricity and water, other problems were widespread and severe.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.icrw.org/publications/quality-care-provision-female-sterilization-and-iud-services
Quality of Care in
Provision of Female Sterilization & IUD Services - An assessment study of
Bihar
Pranita Achyut, Priya Nanda, Nizamuddin Khan and Ravi Verma - 2014
In many communities around the world, women continue to lack access to
quality family planning services that provide the information, counseling and
care necessary for them to make sound decisions about their fertility. And the
caliber of care they receive has been shown to have a direct correlation with
women’s contraceptive use. Often, in settings where the quality of family
planning services is substandard, contraceptive use among women tends to be low
or fragmented. High quality family planning services that recognize their
dignity and respects choice and privacy, are rarely considered a matter of
rights for women.
This is true for many communities in India as well. As such, leaders have
responded by carrying out major transformations to the country’s family
planning program over the last few decades that have, in part, demonstrated a
commitment to providing high-quality, comprehensive health services. However,
gaps in quality of care remain.
To assess what these gaps are, as well as patients’ satisfaction with
sterilization and IUD insertion, two of the most common reproductive health
services, ICRW conducted an analysis and audit In Bihar, India, home to 103
million people, where there is a high unmet need for modern contraceptives.
The report describes where the gaps are within facilities, including a lack
of qualified staff, few safe spaces for women to discuss questions or concerns
about their reproductive health, missing necessary post-operative drugs, and
the report details patients' satisfaction with these services. The report also
contains a host of recommendations that could be implemented immediately to
ensure family planning services are performed in a safe, sanitary environment
where women’s rights and entitlement to quality, comprehensive health care are
respected.