In UP, burden of sterilisation rests squarely on women

FOUND WANTING Very few men opt for vasectomy despite better incentive due to misconception prevailing among them. Overall sterilisation rate also very less

LUCKNOW : Despite all the awareness and additional cash rewards for men, the burden of sterilisation in Uttar Pradesh rests largely on the women.

Besides, the overall sterilisation rate in the state remains only a fraction of the target set by the health and family welfare department.

For 2014, the department had set the target of 9.70 lakh sterilisation but merely 57,733 operations (5.95%) were performed in camps organised in 75 districts by October end. Of these, only 3,779 were vasectomies (male sterilisation) while the rest 53,954 were tubectomies (female sterilisation).

This is when the health and family welfare department offers ` 1,100 to the men as compared to ` 600, which is awarded to the women.

A family welfare department officer said, “Social factors and misconception prevailing among men that sterilisation would have adverse impact on their masculinity has kept them away from vasectomy.” This despite the family welfare department introducing new technique of ‘no scalpel vasectomy’, which involves no use of incision or stitches, to promote male sterilisation.

As for overall sterilisation mechanism in state, a village level health worker or ASHA is given ` 150 to motivate men and women. Only 13% couples are found to have opted for the procedure voluntarily while the rest were motivated and counseled by ASHA.

Data shows that people residing in urban areas, particularly West UP, preferred family planning to their rural counterparts.

Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) tops the list with 1,305 sterili- sation operations while Jalaun could only achieve 14 sterilisations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi stands second in terms of sterilisation rate. Other districts in the top 10 list are Hapur, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Pratapgarh, Lucknow and Bulandshahr.

Family welfare officers are also much concerned about indifference of the people towards other methods of family planning. The number of women who use oral pill in the state is mere 2,31,883 while 7,64,517 men use condoms. A large number of women, 1,15,541 to be precise, preferred intrauterine device (IUD).