A man finds out that his wife is carrying a female foetus. The young couple go to a doctor and ask him to perform an abortion. The doctor says “okay” and asks them to come back the next day.
Meanwhile, the elderly parents of the man get a wind of it. They tell the couple that going for an abortion because it is a girl child is wrong. The elderly woman tells the daughter-in-law that she would not have been around had her mother too opted for abortion. Surprisingly, the doctor comes to the house of the couple and faces the wrath of the elderly couple. The doctor tells them that he is not a villain and that he has no plans to perform the abortion. He agrees to prevent them from doing something wrong and comes home to convince them not to go for an abortion. The story ends happily with the couple abandoning the plan.
This was the story of a streetplay performed by professional artistes hired by the Krishna district unit of Indian Academy of Paediatrics as part of a campaign for the girl child on the National Girl Child Day on Tuesday.
Hundreds of unskilled labourers, who gather every morning at Benz Circle to be hired for the day, witnessed the streetplay. Performances were staged in front of Raj-Yuvaraj theatres in the morning, New Raja Rajeswaripet, Singhnagar Luna Centre, and Chittinagar Centre in the evening. The places and timings for staging the street plays were selected carefully, academy secretary Majety Madhavi said.
Counselling sessions
Child-Parent counselling sessions were also conducted in two schools as part of the campaign. The importance of the girl child and the pivotal role she plays in the family were explained to the parents at these sessions, Dr. Madhavi said.
“The girl child is subjected to discrimination right from the time when she is in the womb. But a healthy and educated girl is like a pillar to the family,” she said.
Paediatricians Sridevi, Kusuma, and Nagamalleswara Rao participated in the counselling sessions. MMR vaccinations were given free of cost to girls after the counselling session.
