The NDA government has begun preparing the ground to introduce birth control implants for women in the family planning programme.
The contraceptive implants are on the radar for the health ministry that received a clinical trial report from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on the efficacy of these birth control tools that are in use in the western countries for the last 10 years.
The implant tested by the ICMR is a flexible plastic rod about the size of a matchstick that contains a hormone called etonogestrel. It is inserted under the skin of the inner side of the upper arm through a minor surgical procedure. It can also be taken out easily.
Carried out on 3,119 women who were followed up for three years at 22 government hospitals, the study was submitted to the Director General of Health Services in the health ministry earlier this month, sources told DH.
More than 66% women continued to use the implant for contraception. For those who discontinued its use, the main reason was irregular menstrual bleeding, though the irregularity declines with time.
The study also indicated that fertility return was quite early after discontinuation of the implant especially among those planning for pregnancy. While multiple variants are available in the market, the one examined by the ICMR is known as Implanon and manufactured by Merck.
The medical research council suggested to the health ministry an operational roll-out after piloting it in 5-8 district hospitals so as to look into the logistics requirements and to address issues like screening and selection of appropriate users, ensuring quality of care, training of health providers in its insertion and removal and management requirements for side effects.
The ministry, in turn, initiated consultation with several stake holders as the government plans to overhaul the family planning programme following a Supreme Court direction.
“The protection that implants provide at a very low cost and the ease of insertion of implants, leads me to believe that India should add it to the existing basket of spacing methods,” said Sanjay Jaiswal, Lok Sabha member from Pashchim Champaran, Bihar, who is the convener of the Forum for Parliamentarians for Health and Family Planning.