26 February,2014 01:39 AM IST | | Niranjan Medhekar
The PMC’s health department served show-cause notices to three hospitals with abortion centres in the city after an inspection held last year found them guilty of flouting the norms and doctoring abortion statistics
The PMC's health department served show-cause notices to three hospitals with abortion centres in the city after an inspection held last year found them guilty of flouting the norms and doctoring abortion statistics.
RTI activist Ganesh Borhade
Right to Information (RTI) activist Ganesh Borhade, has alleged that the civic body is deliberately not initiating strong action against these clinics as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 and is dragging its feet in the matter.
Borhade on Tuesday demanded that police complaints be lodged against all the three hospitals. The PMC appointed committee that regularly inspects sonography and abortion centres in the city, found irregularities and unregistered abortion cases in Samarth Hospital in Kasba Peth, Sutika Seva Mandir in Narayan Peth and Meera Hospital on Shankar Sheth Road.
A show-cause notice issued to Samarth Hospital by PMC's health department reads: ''As a general surgeon when you are eligible to abort a foetus up to 12 weeks, you have aborted 32 foetuses above 12 weeks between April 2013 and October 2013, and that too without seeking permission of two gynaecologists. All these abortions have raised doubts.''
''According to the law, when an abortion of a foetus above 20 weeks is prohibited, there are cases in your register of 21 to 23 weeks and that also without specific reasons behind it,'' stated the notice issued to Sutika Seva Mandir. A notice sent to Meera Hospital stated: ''There are some objectionable abortion cases of above 12 weeks foetuses including a case of a foetus aborted after 21 weeks and 6 days.''
While all these clinics were asked to give a clarification within seven days, the PMC has either not received any clarification or the clarification is not substantial. PMC's acting health chief Dr S T Pardeshi refuted the allegations levelled against him by Borhade. He said, ''PMC has a committee and such cases come before the committee regularly. The inquiries in these three cases are going on.''
Borhade also approached PMC Commissioner Vikas Deshmukh. He said, ''In my letter submitted to the commissioner, I have demanded a departmental inquiry against Pardeshi, who has not initiated any action against these centres.''
