The Indian Medical Association (IMA) today opposed the proposed amendments to the new Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act which allows Ayurvedacharyas, Homeopaths and Nurses to conduct MTP on pregnant mothers.
"This is apparently incorrectly based on an unscientific study done by Population Council in 2012 which showed that trained nurses and Ayurved physicians provide medical abortion as safely as MBBS doctors.
"At the outset, it may be noted that in 2012 when the MTP Act 1971 was in place which does not allow anyone other than an MBBS doctor registered under the Act to conduct abortions, how could the Ayurveda doctors and nurses carry out MTPs as per the study conducted by Population Council. This smells of malpractices in the medical field," said Narendra Saini, secretary general of IMA.
IMA has written a letter to the Prime Minister and Union Health Minister requesting them to withdraw this proposed Bill immediately in the better interest of the health of general public.
The IMA members also stated that the proposal of permitting the non MBBS doctors and paramedical staff to conduct MTPs is also against the provisions of the Clinical Establishments Act, which does not recognize even paramedical personnel trained by the doctors for conducting medical procedures.
"MTP is a procedure meant to be conducted by an allopathic doctor only and cannot be conducted by the paramedical staff on their own as they are not at all well equipped to handle critical medical conditions arising out of excessive bleeding especially during incomplete abortions as a result of procedures provided by unauthorized medical or paramedical professionals during and after MTPs," Saini said adding, if approved, this would endanger the lives of thousands of patients opting for MTP.
Brigadier (Retd) Dr RK Sharma, Director & HOD, Institute of Reproductive Medicine and IVF Centre said, "Referring to MTP Amendment Act 2014, the proposed raised limit of permitting MTP upto 24 weeks of pregnancy from the current limit of 20 weeks is a step welcomed ensuring decreased stress for expecting parents.
"However, such MTP should be done by allopathic gynecologists along with ultrasonologists and neonatologists opinions. Getting the MTP done by untrained and unprofessional general practitioners is a retrograde step because neither they are trained for this nor they would be equipped to handle any emergency arising out of this MTP which might result in jeopardizing the life of a pregnant woman," Sharma said.
