KRISHNAGIRI: A 27-year-old woman, who was eight weeks pregnant, died of massive bleeding after a quack performed abortion on her at Thorapalli village in Hosur in the late hours of Wednesday. Police have launched a hunt for the quack who is now absconding.
Earlier this week, R Gorima of the village sought abortion at a local clinic. After consultation, the ‘doctor’ at the clinic agreed to perform the abortion, and on Wednesday, administered a drug to her. Subsequently, the woman suffered excessive bleeding and lost consciousness.
On the quack’s advice, the woman’s family members immediately rushed her to Thorapalli Primary Health Centre (PHC). However, the doctors at the PHC could not stop the bleeding and the woman died shortly.
Later, when the doctors at the PHC came to know that a quack had performed the abortion, they took the matter to the health department’s notice. In the early hours on Thursday, a team of health officials and drug inspectors reached the clinic but were unable to contact the ‘doctor’.
However, with help from revenue staff and police personnel, they broke into the clinic. On examining the qualification documents found there, the officials found that the ‘doctor’ was a quack.
Speaking to TNIE, Drug Inspector Rajiv Gandhi said, “We conducted a comprehensive investigation into the credentials of the doctor and found that he was a quack. He was identified as Murugesan (59), a native of Tiruppur district, who had set up the clinic here a few years ago. Also, he is an acupuncture specialist, but in the clinic, we found many allopathy medicines. We have sealed the clinic and recovered all the medicines for evidence.”
Paramasivan, Joint Director of Health Services, told TNIE, “The quack had no qualification. We are yet to ascertain the cause of the women’s death. From the testimonies from the victim’s family, we have found that they had indeed sought the doctor for an abortion and we have also found a syringe used to administer an unknown drug.”
He further said abortion was a legal procedure and requested people to approach government hospitals for such procedures. In India, medical termination of pregnancy is legally permitted up to 20 weeks of conception.