‘Issue needs to discussed’

By OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi

Aug. 4: Sympathising with Mumbai-based Niketa Mehta, who was disallowed by the high court the abortion of her 26-week foetus, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss said that the issue needs to be broadly discussed.

Dr Ramadoss said that there needs to be a discussion on the issue but the medical termination of pregnancy act cannot be amended going by just one case. Citing examples of euthanasia and a case where a man had made a plea to donate his organs for one of his family members, Union health minister said there remains grey areas in such cases, which need to be taken care off.

The Bombay high court on Monday disallowed abortion of a 26-week foetus with a heart defect after observing that the plea by the mother to terminate her pregnancy was equivalent to "mercy killing". The court dismissed the application of the mother who was torn between trauma and ethical issues.

Meanwhile, the Union health minister informed that the Accredited Social Health Scheme (ASHA) under UPA’s flagship programme — National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) will now cover the entire country. It was decided during the meeting of the mission steering group of NRHM, which was attended by Dr Ramadoss, rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and panchayati raj minister Manishankar Aiyar. Dr Ramadoss said ASHA will soon cover the 62,000 villages of the country, taking care of issues like immunisation, mother and child health, nutrition, sanitation, malaria and tuberculosis.