Women’s health has never been an issue, not even with feminists in India, but we must make it an issue now | The Indian Express

Women’s health has never been an issue, not even with feminists in India, but we must make it an issue now | The Indian Express

Written by Puneet Bedi |Updated: November 24, 2019 10:23:42 am

<em>The writer is a practising obstetrician, gynaecologist and women’s health activist</em>

Women’s health has never been an issue, not even with feminists in India, but we must make it an issue now

Ultrasound, invented to make childbirth safer, has already led to the genocide of female foeticide. The same ultrasound and foetal monitors are now used to raise alarm and justify planned Caesareans, though there is no proof that these make childbirth safer.

Too many doctors, too few good medical teachers, no standardisation of education in India today is like France three centuries ago.

On a dreary December morning, I sat leafing through hundreds of pages of reports, ultrasounds, surgical notes and prescriptions but found no mention of a diagnosis. When the woman patient complained once too often about her doctor, I asked her why she continued to go to her when her condition was not improving? “Because she is very sweet to talk to,” she replied.