In a country where male sterilisation is considered a taboo and the National Family Health Survey revealing that only one per cent of men undergo sterilisation, the men in Karimnagar district have emerged role models.
The Indian government introduced non-scalpel vasectomy (NSV) — a surgical device pioneered by Chinese doctor Li Shunquiang which became popular in the West — in 1998 in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) to encourage male sterilisation as a measure to control population growth.
Between 1998 and 1999, the then Collector of Karimnagar, Debabrata Kantha, launched a rigorous family campaign to encourage small families. Within a span of two years, the district performed a record one lakh sterilisations — with more than 50 per cent NSV operations — and set a national record. Since then, the District Medical and Health Department has always topped the country in the number of sterilisations performed on men through NSV.
Inspired by the success story of the district, the Union government has invited Medical and Health Department officials of Karimnagar to present their success story at the national workshop on vasectomy conducted by the Family Welfare Department to be held on Novermber 16 in New Delhi.
Accordingly, DM&HO A. Rajesham and G. Ravinder, both NSV specialists, would be visiting New Delhi to make a PowerPoint presentation on NSV surgeries and how they motivated men to undergo sterilisation for the health of their spouse.
