BHUBANESWAR: In what could be a peculiar case of ‘data cloning’, the number of beneficiaries provided assistance under different health initiatives of the Centre was found to be exactly the same for two consecutive years leaving public health experts perplexed.
As per statistics tabled in the Parliament by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 3,67,042 sterilisations under family planning were conducted in Odisha between 2018-19 and 2022-23. While the highest 94,234 sterilisations were conducted in 2022-23, followed by 82,228 in 2018-19 and 79,652 in 2019-20, the number of such procedures recorded in 2021-22 was 55,464, which is the same as that in 2020-21.
What is interesting is that the district-wise number of sterilisations in both the years was also exactly the same. For example, if Angul had reported 759 sterilisations in 2020-21, the data presented by the ministry indicated, 759 sterilisations were conducted in 2021-22 too. Similar is the case with the other 29 districts where the number of family planning procedures conducted was the same for two consecutive years.
Not only sterilisation, district-wise number of postpartum intrauterine contraceptive devices (PPIUCD) inserted and number of doses of injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) given under family planning have been reported to be the same. As per the data laid down in the lower house of the Parliament, 1,26,675 PPIUCDs were inserted in the state in 2020-21 and the number of insertions in the next year happened to be the same. District wise, the highest 10,407 each insertions have been recorded in two consecutive years in Balasore and the figures mentioned against other districts in 2021-22 are identically similar to that of 2020-21.
Similarly, the statistics said, the number of doses of MPA administered in the state in 2021-22 was the same as that of 2020-21 which is 31,696. The maximum 2,920 doses each were administered in Khurda district in the two financial years. The numbers are also exactly the same in the rest of 29 districts. The figures, which have been repeated, were of the Covid-19 pandemic years. Health experts wondered how could the numbers be the same and that too district wise?
“It is understood that the number of beneficiaries under the three categories came down as compared to previous years as 2020 and 2021 due to disruption in services during Covid-19 pandemic and people were reluctant to visit health facilities. But how was the number of beneficiaries in a year the same as the previous year?,” they asked. The ‘cloning’ of data came at a time when the Odisha government is partnering with institutions of global standards for improvement in data quality. Director of family planning Dr Bijay Panigrahi feigned ignorance about the data. “I would verify with my staff,” he said.