Mumbai: Gynaecologists at a city hospital have raised an alarm after 12 women were rushed to the facility in two months with severe complications from taking abortion pills without medical supervision. The hospital has flagged its concerns with the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is now collecting details and will accordingly investigate pharmacies in areas where the patients reside.FDA officials said they are yet to receive complete details from the facility—VN Desai Hospital in Santacruz—but a circular has already been issued instructing all drug inspectors to check city pharmacies for illegal over-the-counter sales of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) pills.Dr Komal Chavan, senior gynaecologist at the hospital, said while access to safe abortion is every woman’s right, bypassing medical supervision is putting some of their lives at serious risk. According to data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, conducted between 2019 and 2021, 90% of abortions in Maharashtra were under doctors’ care.“We had seen a small number of cases before, but the numbers suddenly went up,” said Dr Chavan. She flagged the issue to her medical superintendent, Dr Mayura Nagle, who forwarded it to BMC’s health and family welfare department, which further asked the FDA to act.The hospital tried to find out how the pills were accessed without gynaecologists’ prescriptions but the answers kept changing very frequently. “Some had answers like their friend or husband brought it from somewhere. Others said it was some doctor somewhere who is now not traceable,” said Dr Chavan.There is no singular pattern that emerges among the patients—all were from varying age groups but lived in close proximity of the hospital.TOI spoke to the families of two such patients who had rushed to the hospital over the last two weeks. Both said the pills were taken while they were in their village in Uttar Pradesh. One of them resided in Hanuman Tekdi in Santacruz. Local pharmacies adjoining the settlement said there are frequent enquiries from residents but all are asked to visit a BMC hospital for the pill.Dr Nagle said some of the women who rushed to the hospital due to complications had severe infection spread to other parts of their body. She said there has been no death so far.While the comprehensive state report for NFHS-6 is yet to be released, its key findings’ factsheet notes that modern contraceptive methods, such as intrauterine devices, postpartum intrauterine devices, injectables, male condoms and emergency contraception are used by 61.3% of urban and 70.5% of rural population in Maharashtra.
