HYDERABAD:According to the ‘Family Planning Programme Physical Progress and Achievement’ report for four consecutive financial years between 2014 and 2018, there is observed a sharp fall and rise in the number of condom users in the state.
For financial years, 2015-16 and 2016-17, the use of condoms declined by 37 and 45 per cent, respectively, only to bounce back by over 140 per cent in the following year.
When asked for a reason behind the seemingly anomalous data, a senior health official at the State Health Department said that a lack of statistical officers and the redistribution of staff during the reorganisation of district in 2016 was responsible for the misrepresentation in the data.
There was a sudden lack of statistical and assistant statistical officers in the erstwhile 10 districts as existing officers were retiring during the year which demanded a reorganisation of ranks, said a senior health official from the department.
This is expected to have led to an under reporting of the number of people who used condoms as well as oral contraceptive pills instead of an actual decline in the use of contraception.
“In 2017-18 financial year, the officers who were allotted to KCR Kits scheme, were also updating reports in condom, oral contraceptive users and those who underwent sterilisation which lead to increase in the numbers,” he said.
Apart from the data of use of condoms, a similar decline was observed in the data of use of oral contraceptive pills, number of vasectomies and tubectomies.