Salem doctor arrested after botched abortion, clinic sealed

The doctor has also been booked for revealing the sex of the foetus, an act illegal under the law.

24-year-old Lakshmi, a resident of a village near Salem, was 15-weeks pregnant when she registered herself under Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME), a scheme under the state government. 

Lakshmi, who also has a two-year-old girl, wanted to know the sex of her baby, for which she went to Vazhapadi, said M Kamalakannan, Superintendent, Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS). “She paid around Rs 4,000 for sex determination at the Nihatika clinic, where she was told she would have a daughter on April 18. However, no entry was made at the clinic under her name,” added Kamalakannan. 

Having realised she was having a daughter, the doctor encouraged Lakshmi to abort the baby, according to the husband of the deceased. “They demanded Rs 18,000 for the abortion and gave her a single dose of misoprostol on the evening of April 18. However, that didn’t help abort the baby, and therefore the dose was repeated the following morning,” added the official. 

With no success, the doctor attempted to administer Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) at around 3 pm, which resulted in severe bleeding. “In the hope of improving the situation, they removed her uterus, after which her condition deteriorated. With no life-saving equipment at the clinic, the doctor referred her to a private hospital in Salem,” Kamalakannan added. 

Stating that two female staff of the clinic accompanied Lakshmi to the hospital, an official said, “They arrived at the hospital at 6.20 pm and she was administered treatment. However, she succumbed at around 9.20 pm.” 

During investigations in Salem, officials got a tip-off and immediately inspected the clinic. “There were 10 others who were there for sex determination whom we interrogated. We then sealed the clinic. The scan machine at the hospital was also seized,” said the official.