Devi Khadka, 32, of Daud VDC in Doti district, who was four-month pregnant, decided to abort the child after sex determination test revealed that she was carrying a daughter. Unfortunately, the fetus´s head was left in the uterus in the course of abortion. [break]
Devi was taken to Nepalgunj and her uterus had to be removed due to the infection caused by head of the fetus left during abortion, according to Devi´s husband, Karna Khadka.
Firstly, Devi had approached Dhangadhi Hospital for the abortion. But the hospital turned down her request saying it is illegal to abort a four-month old fetus. According to Karna, they went to Sewa Nursing Home as it agreed to remove the fetus from Devi´s womb.
The relatives of the victim had held talks with the nursing home officials demanding compensation. But they padlocked the nursing home after talks did not yield results.
Rajan Neupane, the doctor involved in the abortion, refused to comment on the incident. After the nursing home was padlocked, patients have been shifted to other hospitals while security personnel have been deployed for the safety of nursing home.
As per the law, it is illegal to abort fetus older than three months.
Private hospitals in Kailali have been conducting illegal abortions for money. According to sources, unscrupulous doctors and nurses have been conducting illegal sex determination test and abortion. The doctors are said to be charging anything from Rs 3,000 to Rs 12,000 for illegal abortion.
The source also claimed that five to six abortions take place in various hospitals everyday in Kailali. “Some doctors even abort seven-month old fetus,” one of the doctors said.
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