CHENNAI: The family welfare department on Thursday formed a three member committee to conduct a departmental inquiry into the death of a 34-year-old woman who died after taking abortion pills, allegedly without doctor’s advice, to terminate the pregnancy of her fifth child in Tiruchy recently.
According to a senior health department official, the joint director and district health officers will conduct the inquiry to find out how they missed to follow the woman despite being a case of higher order birth (with three or more children).
“The committee members have been asked to submit their report in a week, based on which action will be taken,” the official added.
The health department encourages only two children, and the couple should have been counselled on family planning by the local health workers and officials in the family welfare department, sources said.
Officials said inquiry is on to find out if the woman was registered in Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME) portal, where all pregnancies must be mandatorily registered.
Meanwhile, the state drug control department officials also conducted an inquiry to find out from which pharmacy the woman purchased the drug. The woman lived in Poonamallee in Chennai and she had purchased the drug from a pharmacy in the area.
According to sources, the woman, hailing from a village near Marungapuri in Tiruchy, died on Saturday at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital owing to complications after consuming abortion pills without medical supervision.
“The woman who had four children was pregnant for the fifth time. Hence, she reportedly wanted to abort the child and purchased the medicine over-the-counter, and took it on August 22. She visited Tiruchy, her relative’s home, after falling sick,” the sources said.