Track & report teen pregnancies to cops, Assam hospitals told

GUWAHATI: Hospitals across Assam have been asked to record and report teenage pregnancies to police amid a sudden dip in the number of suspected underage girls visiting rural health centres for pregnancy and antenatal tests since the crackdown on child marriage started last week.

The directive, verbal as of now, is meant to help the police track cases of child marriage that have gone undetected so far. Kandarpa Das, joint director of health services in Kamrup (Metro) district, said hospitals within his jurisdiction had been taking “special care” to record suspected teenage pregnancies on the instructions of the national health mission’s state office.

In Goalpara, the joint director of health services recently instructed the office of the registrar of births and deaths to submit weekly lists of birth certificates issued to children born to teenage mothers. The information has been sought with retrospective effect since January 1.

“Any pregnant teenager will get the medical care she requires, as was always the case. But hospitals now have the additional responsibility of tracking the number of such pregnancies. We haven’t issued an official order in this regard, although it’s being adhered to,” state director of health services Nil Madhab Das said Wednesday.

Kandarpa Das said his office hadn’t received any report of women below 18 visiting district hospitals in Kamrup for pregnancy tests since the police crackdown on child marriage last week led to 2,500-odd arrests. “Pregnant teenagers are possibly avoiding tests for fear of their families being investigated.”

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