Health survey to first time include data on hysterectomies

Acting on concerns raised by activists, Health Ministry has decided to gather information on hysterectomies in the forthcoming National Family Health Survey.
The move was initiated after health activists wrote to the Ministry expressing serious concern on issue of age at which hysterectomies or surgical removal of uterus are being conducted across the county.
Now, as per the survey, information on this would be directly gathered from the households on sample basis and the estimates would be provided at the district, state and national level.
The letter to Secretary, Health said that no data currently is available on the prevalence of hysterectomies (surgical removal of the uterus) in India and that few studies which have been conducted reveal that while percentage of hysterectomies conducted in India is low in comparison to countries such as UK, US and Germany but average age at which these are being done is much lower.

It claims that most hysterectomies are conducted in India during pre-menopausal phase.
The letter also suggested set of questions that could be asked during the survey. The Ministry after much deliberation on the issue, decided to include it in the NHFS-4.
Some other components like consanguineous marriage, age at puberty and menstruation hygiene, abortion and violence on pregnant women have also been included on which the Ministry will be collecting data.