Dipayal, January 27:

Pregnant women opting for abortion are losing their lives due to the practise of unsafe abortion in the Far Western Development Region.

According to a report made public by an NGO, Kripa, some pregnant women are losing their lives as they are performing abortion in their own houses without even consulting trained doctors or visiting hospitals. According to the report, the largest numbers of women performing unsafe abortion are in Achham. Vice-chairman of the Doti chapter of Nepal Family Planning Association Laba Shrestha also admitted the condition in Achhan. “As women are performing abortion using domestic means in their own houses, it is unsafe and risky,” Dr Kiran Pandeya at the Doti District Hospital, said.

“Since women in villages are consuming various kind of domestic foods to abort undesired pregnancy, resulting in the death of 50 per cent in doing so,” doctors said. “Village women are performing abortion in their own houses using domestic means as they hardly can talk about sex openly and hospitals don’t provide information about safe abortion,” Saran Pyukurel of the Doti chapter of Care Nepal said.

Earlier two years ago, the government had allowed all district hospitals in far-west to carry out safe abortion; however, only four cases of abortion were carried out at the Doti District Hospital in a year.