‘Set up medical boards at govt, civic hospitals for late-abortion seekers’
MUMBAI:The MUMBAI:A THE BENCH SAID THAT PERMANENT SPECIAL MEDICAL BOARDS CAN BE EASILY SET UP IN CITIES WHERE THERE ARE GOVERNMENTRUN MEDICAL COLLEGES
Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday directed the state to consider setting up permanent medical boards at government and civic hospitals in major cities across Maharashtra to examine women seeking permission for medical termination of their pregnancies advanced beyond the 20-week limit set by the Medical Termination of Pregnancies Act, 1971.
“We are not saying medical boards should be set up everywhere, but see if it is possible at least in major cities,” a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Mahesh Sonak told government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a teenaged rape survivor from Satara, seeking permission to medically terminate her pregnancy which resulted from the sexual assault on her.
She said “continuation of pregnancy will constitute injury to her mental health and if she is compelled to give birth, it will cause life-long mental trauma for her”.
Acting on her plea, the court had on September 4, directed the dean of BJ Government Medical College and Sassoon General Medical termination of pregnancy in India is regulated by provisions of the Medical Termination of
Pregnancy Act, 1971 Clause 2 of Section 3 permits termination of up to 20 weeks pregnancy, if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion that
(i) The continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury to her physical or mental health OR
(ii) There is a substantial risk that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped “Formation of permanent medical boards is just one part the long painstaking process women have to endure in order to get legal permission to abort pregnancies over 20 weeks. Having preformed boards may not substantially reduce the turn over time of getting the final verdict from the court. The more challenging part in the whole process is filing the petition in the court. What these women require is quick redressal, which will happen only if they don’t have to go to the court.”
SNEHA MUKHERJEE, lawyer
Hospital at Pune to create a special medical board to examine the rape survivor and submit its report to the court.
On September 10, the court rejected the petitioner’s plea for permission to terminate her pregnancy after the board said
the pregnancy was advanced and “medical termination at 27 weeks carried a significant risk” to the life of the petitioner.
The court had, however, kept the petition pending to ensure financial assistance is made available to the survivor under “It is a good idea to have such permanent doctor committees as it is chaotic for deans to set them up on an urgent basis. But I don’t think the move may help women who seek abortion as they will still have to approach the judiciary.”
DR NIKHIL DATAR, who provides legal help to women who want to abort their pregnancies
the Manodhairya Scheme. The bench on Wednesday said that permanent special medical boards can be easily set up in cities where there are government-run medical colleges.
It asked Vagyani to espouse the possibility of creating such boards in civic hospitals in Mumbai as the number of regular patients in major government hospitals here, like JJ Hospital and KEM Hospital, is huge and the doctors at these government hospitals find it difficult to form special medical boards on urgent basis.
The bench said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) runs some big hospitals, like Cooper hospital, where such boards can be set up to reduce the pressure on government hospitals in the city. “Even otherwise, in Mumbai, the cases are on the rise,” the judges said.
Vagyani informed the bench that the District Legal Aid Authority has sanctioned ₹30,000 as immediate financial help for the pregnant teenager and the authority has started processing report from the concerned police station for regular financial aid to her.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch several projects during his visit to Odisha and poll-bound Chhattisgarh on Saturday, a release issued by the PM’s Office stated on Friday.
In Odisha, Modi is scheduled to unveil a plaque for revival of work on the Talcher fertiliser plant in Odisha, which is the first plant in India to have a coal gasification-based fertiliser unit. The plant will produce natural gas that will contribute to the country’s energy requirements.
He will also inaugurate an airport at Jharsuguda, which will brin western Odisha on the aviation map.
A plaque for commencement of coal production and transportation from Dulanga coal mines will also be unveiled in Odisha.
In Chhattisgarh’s JanjgirChampa district, Modi will visit a handloom and agriculture exhibition, and lay the foundation stone for national highway projects and the Pendra-Anuppur third railway line. PTI
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