Pune, July 20: There has been a 10 per cent increase in cases of incomplete abortion, a scary side effect of non-surgical abortion
Easy availability of abortion inducing drugs over the counter have resulted in a 10 per cent increase in incidents of women suffering from the side-effects of Medical abortion (MA). In the Pimpri-Chinchwad area, the increase has been about 25 per cent.
In a non-surgical medical abortion, an oral drug is used to abort the child. According to gynaecologists, many chemists are selling these drugs to patients without doctors’ permission, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s instructions otherwise.
Constant bleeding
MA is 94.95 per cent effective only up to seven weeks of pregnancy. According to Dr Shubha Ambordikar, researcher gynaecologist at the KEM hospital, and leading gynaecologist Dr Sabrina Bokil, if the tablets are consumed without prescription, it results in incomplete abortion in three to four per cent of the cases, leading to bleeding for several days.
Dr Ambordikar said its efficacy decreases with increasing weeks of pregnancy. “The chances of complication decrease if MA is done after proper selection and counselling under a gynaecologist. In addition, the patient is reassessed on the 10th day about her abortion status either clinically or using sonography,” she said.
‘We’ll bring change’
The president of Chemists Association of Pune District Dyaneshwar Narhare and its coordinator Mahendra Pitalia said, “We agree that a few chemists may be selling these abortion inducing drugs over the counter. However, we have instructed all chemists to not sell them without proper prescription.”
—Agencies