Doctors not aware of procedure in cases of termination of pregnancy: Allahabad HC

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has raised a question and said that doctors in the state are not aware of the procedure to be followed in cases of medical termination of pregnancy while examining the female.

The court directed the principal secretary, Medical Health and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh, to issue Standard Operating Procedure for the same which is to be followed by all chief medical officers and the boards constituted by them in the state.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Shekhar B. Saraf and Justice Manjiv Shukla made the observation while hearing a petition filed by a minor victim of a sexual offence and her family.

The petitioners had approached the high court for medical termination of the pregnancy. The court directed the formation of a Medical Board, which submitted its report. In the report, it was stated that the pregnancy is around 29 weeks and the termination of pregnancy at this stage as well as carrying the pregnancy to full term would harm the mental and physical being of the victim.

Since the victim and her family members wanted the medical termination of pregnancy, the court allowed the writ petition.

The court observed, "In umpteen matters that had appeared before us wherein the petitioner had prayed for medical termination of pregnancy, we have found that the Medical Colleges including the Chief Medical Officers of the Districts and the doctors that are appointed as part of the Medical Board for examination of the victim are not properly informed about the procedure to be followed while carrying out the examination of the victim and the subsequent medical termination, if ordered."

The court said that the procedure must be followed in cases of medical examination of a victim and the medical termination of pregnancy as laid down in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971; Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, 2003 and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Regulations, 2003 as well as in various judgments of the Supreme Court.

"One has to keep in mind the sensitivity involved in the entire process, and it is a matter of grave concern that doctors in some of the districts are not at all familiar with the above legislations and the procedure established by the Supreme Court of India."

Thus, the court directed the principal secretary, Medical Health and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh, to issue the standard operating procedure to all the chief medical officers.