Obstetric Violence in India- A Dark Reality

Obstetric VIolence in India: Having a child is believed to be one of the greatest joys of life. But what if the ones who swear to provide healthcare to those in need, free from any intentional injustice and prejudice, traumatize this experience for life? When a woman is mistreated, disrespected or abused either emotionally or physically by healthcare facilities, it is considered to be an act of obstetric violence. It can occur during childbirth, prenatal period or both.

Every year thousands of women in India have to face this heinous crime. A couple in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh witnessed one such incident. This happened in February this year, where a government hospital refused to admit the woman suffering from excruciating labour pain. She had no choice but to deliver her baby on the road. There are countless other incidents where the woman and the child die because of lack of required attention.

Intensity of Obstetric Violence in India

A research done in Aligarh Muslim University in 2019 revealed that around 84% of the total participants have experienced at least a form of abuse. 10.2% were abandoned and 4.9% faced physical abuse during delivery. This reason for such violence isn’t just the carelessness and neglect of corrupted hospital system. The roots grow deep to casteism, religious discrimination and bias against the poor.

In India, most of the women belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes prefer home deliveries because healthcare officials often mistreat them. They resort to midwives. Most of the midwives in India aren’t well equipped, lacking proper training. Believing they have an upper hand over the patients, many use physical violence to quieten the cries of women. Traces of such acts are also evident even in big-shot urban public and private hospitals. Women are beaten mercilessly, some are also sedated without consent for a faster delivery. Every year, thousands of women face sexual assaults by the hospital staff during childbirth. Victims are mostly those belonging to poorer sections of the society who have less to no exposure of mass media.

What disturbs most is the fact that majority of these cases either remain unreported or are disregarded by the police. Most of the women focus on the upbringing of their babies and don’t want to fight a legal battle. I mean we all know how “just” justice in our country is. Obstetric violence is not only a human rights violation but also a major public health concern. The eradication of such abuse is only possible when patients are treated like humans and not just a bag of money or a bait for increased vote-bank.

Here is the list of all women helpline numbers .