COIMBATORE: Male sterilisations in Coimbatore district still lag behind those of females despite promotional drives and incentive programmes.
The Health Department conducted 11,241 birth control sterilisations in the last one year, between April 2024 and March 2025. Of these, only 35 were male sterilisations, and the remaining 11,206 all were female, said sources.
Health officials rued social stigma prevents many men from coming forward for the key family planning measure. To promote equal participation in family planning, the health department encourages men to undergo no-scalpel vasectomy (NSV) procedures.
This procedure is available at government hospitals across 12 blocks in Coimbatore district throughout the year. Also, the department has been observing a Vasectomy fortnight every November to encourage male sterilisation and offering incentives.
In Coimbatore, the health department with the support of private sponsors provides an incentive of Rs 3,100 for each individual undergoing NSV surgery. However, officials are disappointed as male participation in family planning procedures was below 40 in the Coimbatore district.
When women are unable to undergo family planning procedures due to prior health complications caused by the pregnancy, their partners should undergo it. However, due lack of awareness, women themselves discouraged their partners from undergoing this procedure and social stigma plays a significant role in men avoiding taking responsibility for it.
Awareness campaigns and incentives have somehow improved the male sterlisations to double digits, said an official attached to the health department. In the case of women, the department promotes the use of Intrauterine Devices (IUDs) - a temporary birth control measure to avoid pregnancy - when women hesitate to adopt sterilisation.
Officials hope that these temporary measures would prevent the illegal use of MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) kits. As we took efforts to curb the sale of illegal MTP kits, the usage of temporary birth control measures has increased, said M Gowri, deputy director of the Coimbatore and Tiruppur Family Welfare Department.
As per the data available with the health department as many as 13554 individuals have used temporary birth control measures in the Coimbatore district in the last year. Of this, 8,402 people used the postpartum intrauterine contraceptive device (PPIUCD) which is recommended immediately after delivery, 4,958 people used IUCD (Intrauterine Contraceptive Device) after 42 days and 194 people used Post-Abortion Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (PAICD).
Other than that, 31,6837 individuals received contraceptive medicines such as Chhaya, Antara, oral pills and contraceptive condoms from the health department.