Berhampur: Ganjam district administration has restricted sale of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kits and some other pills used for abortion without prescriptions from obstetrics and gynaecology specialists and MMA (Medical Methods of Abortion) trained doctors.The move is aimed at protecting women’s health, curbing illegal abortion and improving the child sex ratio in the district, Ganjam collector Keerthi Vasan V said on Thursday. He said the decision was taken in this regard at the district advisory committee meeting under PC-PNDT Act held at Chhatrapur recently. The collector is the chairperson of the committee.The drug inspectors have been asked to crack down on the illegal sale of such medicines and kits in medicine shops in the district. If anyone is found selling such pills illegally, instructions were given to seal the medicine outlets, he said.The meeting discussed easy availability and sale of abortifacient drugs, used for medical termination of pregnancy in most medicine shops without a valid medical prescription, leading to illegal abortions and an adverse impact on sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the district.The restriction was assumed to be significant as the SRB in Ganjam district was lower than the state average. The child sex ratio in the district was 920 per 1,000 births as against 923 at the state level.Following the decision taken at the meeting, district health officials have written to drug inspectors to take stringent action against illegal sale of such pills and kits in medicine shops in the district.“Abortifacients are classified under Schedule H & H1 and shall not be sold without a valid prescription from a registered medical practitioner,” said in-charge chief district medical and public health officer (CDM and PHO) S Kameswar Rao. Moreover, under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, sale and misuse of such drugs for sex-selective abortion is punishable, he said.The district health authorities asked drug inspectors to issue suitable instructions to all medicine shops and pharmacies in the district to refrain from counter sale of such drugs without valid prescriptions from qualified gynaecology specialists and MMA-trained doctors. “Strict monitoring, surprise inspections and enforcement action may be undertaken to prevent unauthorised sale and to safeguard maternal health in the district,” he added. hrusikeshm@gmail.com
