Medical termination of pregnancy claimed four lives

Mumbai: Four women died between January and April 2017 in the city while undergoing medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) after being afflicted with sepsis, a RTI query has revealed. Health authorities claimed that the deaths occurred due to improper care taken at the respective nursing homes. The complications associated with MTP include trauma, perforation, bleeding, inflammatory disease, depression, mortality, incomplete abortion, and sepsis.

As per recent BMC data collated from registered MTP centres, over 40,000 women underwent medical or surgical abortion over the past year. Surprisingly, teen pregnancies saw a sharp rise only in the under-15 category as numbers jumped from 111 to 185 and finally 271 in the past three years.

The RTI query revealed that four women in the age group of 25 to 36 years died due to sepsis and that too within a day or two of discharge.

BMC executive health officer, Dr Padmaja Keskar told The Asian Age, “The data which is provided is true, and we have been giving good quality healthcare to patients. Death in MTP is not new. It is a minor procedure like a small surgery.”

Another senior BMC official said, “These cases of MTP deaths are not new; the women need to take care of themselves. Post-operative nursing is essential which we lack. Sometimes, these women approach unqualified doctors, which leads to further complications.”