Male family planning fortnight concludes

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 5

The District Health department may have tried its best to motivate residents of the district to undergo vasectomy operations during its male family planning fortnight but only 49 males came forward to get the operation done. As part of the drive which began on November 21, operations were conducted between November 28 and December 4.

Elaborating reasons for low turnout of males to undergo the operation, District Family Welfare Officer Ravanjit Kaur Sidhu said, “Even though the government had offered a financial aid of Rs 1,100 to the males for getting vasectomy done and Rs 200 to the motivators, it still proved to be a tough task to motivate the male members of the family to undergo the sterilisation process.”

She said the main focus of the campaign was on the residents of slum areas as they were not very well aware of the process and also because they still consider the operation a taboo.

She added that the focus of the drive was on the families from the low socioeconomic background. Majority of the families are dependent on the females income and they do not get much time to recover after operation and hence it is better if the males take upon them the responsibility of planning their family.

“For us it was a big challenge as our ASHA and ANM workers worked hard to convince them for undergoing the operation. While 22 males from Bathinda city came forward to get the operation done, 13 cases were registered from Talwandi Sabo and the remaining from Sangat, Goniana, Bhagta and Ballianwali blocks,” she said.

Civil Surgeon HN Singh maintained that getting 49 cases was also a big achievement as the operation was still not very popular in the society. “Social stigma is attached to undergoing family planning operations in the males and the stress is still given on the females to get the operation done after the couple has had the desired number of children. Considering the societal attitude towards the procedure, 49 is a good number,” he said.

Sidhu further added that the people were also yet to understand that the male operation was far easier and shorter procedure as compared to the operation for females. “The vasectomy is the shortest possible operation. The patient can leave for home after half an hour of the surgery, start doing routine work after 48 hours and manual work after seven days. On the other hand, in females, the operation is bigger and the patient needs at least a month to recuperate,” she said.