Fact-Finding Report on Compliance with National Sterilization Guidelines – Sterilization Camp in Kawi Village

Post Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2016

In March 2008, the government of India’s Family Planning Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued guidelines for sterilization services in camps.  All sterilization camps in the country must abide by these guidelines.  A team of health rights activists visited the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Kawi Village in the Panipat district of Haryana to ascertain whether public facilities have implemented the guidelines in Haryana. 

The team visited the PHC on 18^th March 2013 and spoke with the doctors, medical staff, Accredited Social Health Workers (ASHA), Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) and female patients at the PHC.  The team also met and had an informal discussion with one ASHA at her house in Sodhapur Village in Panipat after their visit to the PHC.  

VISIT TO THE HOSPITAL

The team arrived at the PHC around 12:30 p.m.  The PHC appeared to be clean and well maintained.  There was a large open space in the middle and offices along the sides of the building.  There were chairs scattered about for the patients and families to sit in while they waited for the operation to begin. 

There was a pharmacy that appeared to be well-stocked with medications including the anaesthesia, pain killers and antibiotics necessary for the sterilization procedure.  The team could not verify if the PHC had a stock of all of the required drugs listed on page 18 of the 2006 Guidelines.  There was also a hand-written list on the pharmacy door that listed which medications were expiring soon.  Aside from the pharmacy and offices, there was an Operating Theatre (OT), labour room, female recovery room (two beds), male recovery room (two beds), and separate female and male bathrooms.