Illegal abortions: Quacks will now be charged with murder
Health Dept Lays Down Law To End The Menace
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 06.04.2018
Chennai: In a stern message to quacks, the health department is increasingly prodding police into slapping murder and attempt to murder charges against quacks carrying out illegal abortions in the state.
In the latest instance, a quack in Salem was booked under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC after a 19-year-old bled to death following an illegal abortion done by her last month. Officials said the accused, Sulthana, 43, who had trained as a nursing assistant in an unrecognised institute, had been carrying out abortions for the last 20 years at villages in Salem.
Another case of murder was filed six months ago against a Villupuram-based nurse Vijayalakshmi who adopted crude procedures to abort the fetus of a disabled woman who was pregnant for the fourth time. The woman, who started bleeding profusely, was referred to the Villupuram GH, where she died three days later.
The health department said more stringent sections of the IPC will be invoked to nail quacks. “Any kind of invasive treatment, including insertion of intravenous fluid, will invite murder and attempt to murder charges if there has been a death,” said Dr M P Enbasekaran, director of medical and rural health services.
In the third case, police slapped an attempt to murder case on Anandi Tamilselvan, who ran an illegal ‘abortion clinic’ from her house in Tiruvannamalai. In 2016, the police arrested her for the second time on charges feticide, besides quackery, a cognisable offence.
When a team of DMS officials raided her three-storey house near Somavarakulam, there were six pregnant women, including a teenager, hiding inside a toilet on the terrace. All of them had taken abortion pills, and scan reports showed they were carrying a female child. Investigations revealed she carried out crude invasive procedures to expel the fetus in an unsterile environment. She spent 45 days in jail and is now back again doing the same practice.
Since 2014, the department had caught 1,472 quacks – the highest in districts like Tiruvannamalai, Salem and Tiruvallur. However, almost all of them are out on bail owing to weak anti-quackery laws.
Fake practitioners are usually booked for cheating and impersonation and they get away by paying a fine of Rs 1,000. Quacks are also booked under more lenient and bailable Sections of the Indian Medical Council Act, which prohibit non-medical people from practising medicine, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act if they are found doling out prescriptions.
Officials say once the Tamil Nadu Private Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2018, passed in the assembly last month, comes into force, it will be easier to nail these quacks. Provisions in the bill make it mandatory that every clinical establishment, corporate and small, should get licence after registration with the Directorate of Medical Services. At present, anyone can establish a clinic or a corporate hospital in the state.
Health Dept Lays Down Law To End The Menace
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 06.04.2018
Chennai: In a stern message to quacks, the health department is increasingly prodding police into slapping murder and attempt to murder charges against quacks carrying out illegal abortions in the state.
In the latest instance, a quack in Salem was booked under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC after a 19-year-old bled to death following an illegal abortion done by her last month. Officials said the accused, Sulthana, 43, who had trained as a nursing assistant in an unrecognised institute, had been carrying out abortions for the last 20 years at villages in Salem.
Another case of murder was filed six months ago against a Villupuram-based nurse Vijayalakshmi who adopted crude procedures to abort the fetus of a disabled woman who was pregnant for the fourth time. The woman, who started bleeding profusely, was referred to the Villupuram GH, where she died three days later.
The health department said more stringent sections of the IPC will be invoked to nail quacks. “Any kind of invasive treatment, including insertion of intravenous fluid, will invite murder and attempt to murder charges if there has been a death,” said Dr M P Enbasekaran, director of medical and rural health services.
In the third case, police slapped an attempt to murder case on Anandi Tamilselvan, who ran an illegal ‘abortion clinic’ from her house in Tiruvannamalai. In 2016, the police arrested her for the second time on charges feticide, besides quackery, a cognisable offence.
When a team of DMS officials raided her three-storey house near Somavarakulam, there were six pregnant women, including a teenager, hiding inside a toilet on the terrace. All of them had taken abortion pills, and scan reports showed they were carrying a female child. Investigations revealed she carried out crude invasive procedures to expel the fetus in an unsterile environment. She spent 45 days in jail and is now back again doing the same practice.
Since 2014, the department had caught 1,472 quacks – the highest in districts like Tiruvannamalai, Salem and Tiruvallur. However, almost all of them are out on bail owing to weak anti-quackery laws.
Fake practitioners are usually booked for cheating and impersonation and they get away by paying a fine of Rs 1,000. Quacks are also booked under more lenient and bailable Sections of the Indian Medical Council Act, which prohibit non-medical people from practising medicine, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act if they are found doling out prescriptions.
Officials say once the Tamil Nadu Private Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2018, passed in the assembly last month, comes into force, it will be easier to nail these quacks. Provisions in the bill make it mandatory that every clinical establishment, corporate and small, should get licence after registration with the Directorate of Medical Services. At present, anyone can establish a clinic or a corporate hospital in the state.
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