Family planning surgeries will now be part of hospital services in Telangana

Hyderabad: The State government will make family planning surgeries like tubectomy, Double Puncture laparoscopic (DPL) and vasectomy surgeries part of the hospital delivery system and not conduct them by organising standalone camps, which was the case till recently. It has also now become mandatory for women, who undergo DPL surgeries, to remain at the government […]

Hyderabad: The State government will make family planning surgeries like tubectomy, Double Puncture laparoscopic (DPL) and vasectomy surgeries part of the hospital delivery system and not conduct them by organising standalone camps, which was the case till recently.

It has also now become mandatory for women, who undergo DPL surgeries, to remain at the government hospital under observation for at least 24-hours. From now on, only 30 family planning surgeries are to be performed on a single day by a surgeon in a healthcare institute, as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) framed by Standards and Quality Assurance in Sterilisation Services of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW).

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Following the death of four women after undergoing DPL surgeries in a sterilisation camp at CHC, Ibrahimpatnam on August 25, the State government had directed Director of Public Health (DPH), Dr G Srinivasa Rao to conduct a thorough enquiry and come up with recommendations so that such incidents won’t take place again.

As part of the inquiry, the DPH in the report has recommended that family planning surgeries as a whole should be made an intrinsic part of the hospital service delivery system. ‘DPL surgeries shall be conducted as fixed day services along with other services given by the hospital,” the report said.

As per the pre-scheduled calendar, the beneficiaries will be guided to access family planning services at the hospital of their choice. Supervisors concerned will have to make one visit to the house of the beneficiary within 24-hours from discharge and ensure at least 2 more visits within one week on subsequent post-operative days. They also should ensure prompt follow-up and appropriate referral as per the need, the inquiry report recommended.

The Primary Health Centre (PHC) Medical Officer will have to visit all the post-operative cases at least once within the first two-days of surgeries. The Medical Officer shall ensure the Supervisor duly visits women who have undergone the surgeries, as per the schedule.

Superintendent, surgeon and deputy DM&HO (camp officer) of the area shall verify the processes as per the SOPs for pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative care, the report recommended.

Refresher training would be conducted for all supervisory staff on the identification of any possible signs of complication of procedure. Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare would put in place a mechanism to assess the DPL surgeons skills and knowledge once a year by a competent authority.

The State team headed by Joint directors, officer of the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare shall review the processes and all the activities pertaining to sterilisation services with Family Planning program officers, surgeons, teams at least once a quarter.

The hospital infection control committee chaired by Superintendents of hospital shall meet every Monday to review the measures on infection control protocols without fail. A refresher training course for all the infection control officers and infection control nurses under DME and TVVP shall be organised through NIMS, covering the latest infection control protocols and practices.

Director of Medical Education and Commissioner of Telangana Vaidya Vidhan Parishad (TVVP) have to ensure implementation of infection control practise with particular focus on Operation Theatres (OTs) and ICUs.