Indian Province Offering Free Sterilization Reversal Surgeries to People Who Lost All Children in 2004 Tsunami

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 15 Mar 2005 - 13:00 PDT

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Government officials in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu last week announced that couples who lost all of their children in the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami can undergo surgery to reverse their sterilizations at no cost in order to try to have more children, the... Washington Times reports. More than three million women in Tamil Nadu over the past decade have undergone sterilization procedures as part of a nationwide family planning program aimed at curbing the growth of India's population. The procedures to reverse women's tubal ligations or men's vasectomies will be conducted free of charge at government hospitals, or people will be reimbursed $575 if they choose to have the surgery at private hospitals, according to the Times. The Community Health Education Society, a nongovernmental organization based in Tamil Nadu that is providing counseling to people affected by the tsunami, said that more than 600 women and about 100 men have expressed interest in having sterilization reversal procedures. Approximately 8,000 people in the state, including 2,500 children, died in the tsunami. CHES Director Dr. Pinagapani Manorama said that the state government's announcement that it would provide sterilization reversal surgery "brings unexpected joy to the people."

Left Wanting Sons
Some women who have surviving daughters want to reverse their tubal ligations because they lost all their sons in the tsunami, but they are not eligible for the free-of-charge surgery at government clinics, according to the Times. However, some of them are using compensation they received from the government for their sons' deaths to pay for the procedures at private hospitals, the Times reports. Although prenatal sex selection is illegal in India, some in vitro fertilization clinics in large cities "guarante[e]" male births, and the proportion of male births at some clinics is close to 95%, according to the Times. In addition, no couples who are sterilized have inquired about adopting any of the 350 children orphaned by the tsunami. However, Manorama said she believes that the 30% to 40% of people for whom sterilization reversal surgery is unsuccessful might adopt tsunami orphans over the coming months, the Times reports (Azizur Rahman, Washington Times, 3/12).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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