Kolkata: A medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) was conducted on an 11-year-old girl at SSKM hospital on Thursday but the 28-week foetus was born alive as the doctors restrained a surgery fearing future health complications to the girl. The Kolkata High Court had ordered an MTP for the 5th-standard student after her father appealed for the same.
The girl, who belongs to an impoverished background was brutally raped seven months ago but the matter came to light only after the FIR was lodged on July 28, and her pregnancy was detected not before August 3.
Doctors at SSKM hospital conducted MTP through oral medication as they didn’t want to compromise her uterus’ health. Surgery could have caused trauma to her uterus pertaining to issues in child-bearing ability in the future.
“Considering the girl’s age, our director (IPGMER director Manimoy Banerjee) asked us to offer the best MTP option so that her fertility is preserved completely. The girl is too young and she would want to become a mother in the future. In order to avoid any kind of trauma to her uterus which surgery may cause, we opted to conduct MTP through oral medication,” said Subhas Biswas, HOD, gynaecology.
The survivor was kept on oral medication for more than 30 hours and will be monitored for the next 48 hours. Had the oral procedure not worked, doctors would have had to go through the surgical procedure. Ideally, the oral process takes around 48 hours.
The premature newborn is extremely critical and has been kept under observation in the neonatology department, it will further be kept/nurtured under the state’s care as per the regulations.
