Times of India | 2 months ago | 26-09-2022 | 08:49 am
PANAJI: On health parameters, Goa is counted among the progressive states, yet, when it comes to family planning measures, the responsibility lies with women as in other states. The state family welfare bureau of the directorate of health services recorded just two vasectomies, one each for North and South Goa, last year. Dr Rajendra Borkar, who heads the bureau, said that though there are routine awareness programmes, the male response for family welfare measures is poor. The state’s fertility rate being 1.3 — a sufficiently good count — family planning does not pose a problem. With Goa being literate and progressive, it was expected that men would shoulder the responsibility of family planning, but Borkar said that people can’t be dictated to choose a certain method of contraception. “Anyway, we have a low birth rate. We can’t be telling people to do this and that,” he said. Health experts said that in general men associate vasectomy with impotence and are reluctant to opt for the procedure, and women are left with no choice but to take measures. “Men believe they will turn impotent if they have a vasectomy, but this is not true. Overall we see more tubectomies,” said Dr Rini Naik, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist. Several women also choose to have a permanent sterilisation done immediately after delivery. “Women know the amount of pain they will have to bear while giving birth, and the effort and time they will need to put in to raise a child. So, naturally, they take the initiative where husbands fail,” Naik said. Naik said she has seen cases of husbands not opting for a vasectomy even where their wives had a health condition and ideally should not have been the one to have a procedure done. Another gynaecologist said that since doctors know the trend and find it difficult to convince unwilling husbands, women are counselled to adopt a family planning procedure. Dr Shradha Patil, a gynaecologist who practices in South Goa, said that generally vasectomies are not given much importance in Goa. “We were taught more about tubal ligation. Somehow vasectomies are on the back burner and we don’t know why,” Patil said. Women, she said, are also likely to rely on oral contraception if the husband works abroad and may be home two to three months a year. “Several of my clients have their husbands working abroad and they prefer oral contraction. For a short-term, oral contraceptive is a fantastic method,” she said. Also, the Goan population being well educated, she said, couples choose a natural method of contraception. The abortion rate is also not high is Goa.
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