The controversial injectable contraceptives for women will now be finally a reality under the national family planning programme. The Union Health Ministry is planning to introduce the country’s first injectable contraceptives — depot med-roxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) — for women in the public health system from April next year in all the State Government’s district hospitals.
A section of women activists have been opposing its introduction, alleging that it has adverse side affect on the health of women such as headache and depression.
However, playing safe, the Ministry has decided to introduce these contraceptives in the district government hospitals and those attached with the medical colleges with reasonably good health services. “Depending on the response from the women and its success we will take it to the Primary health centre level. We have already sent our request for its procurement to the concerned department,” said a senior health official.
He explained that though the injectables are already available in the private market, women from the poor strata had no means to adopt this mode of family planning method.
“Now she will have variety of option to choose from the basket of family planning methods,” the official added. The three-monthly injectable contraceptive has been in use across 106 countries by about 12 million women.
Though many NGOs had been for the last two decades were vocal against its introduction in the public health system citing safety concerns, the proposal for its introduction moved faster when Ministry’s highest decision making body on drugs Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) gave green signal to its introduction.
Talking about the concerns raised by activists, he said that the users will be counseled and given a choice. “The contraceptive is 99.9 per cent effective in preventing pregnancy, safe for breastfeeding mothers, prevents iron deficiency anaemia and reduces the risk of cancers of the womb and ovary.”
He pointed out that “Most of the gynecologists at the national consultative meeting held few months ago on expanding the basket of choice in Family Planning too had opined that the injectables were a suitable and feasible method for introduction in the program.”
The studies of ICMR with Net-EN and Mesigyna injectables has been conducted successfully in India and the product has been in the private sector with the concurrence of DCGI for the last twenty years with no untoward events reported, a pilot is therefore not required before including it in the basket of choice under family planning, the members had noted, said the official.
The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) too has cleared the usage of Depo-Provera and has been declared safe for general use, the official added.