Mr. Shankaran is a nice man. I know him since few years now. His wife came to me for treatment during pregnancy. Both the children were delivered by me. They are a lively couple with two beautiful children. This time they came to discuss with me about contraception. Nalini ( Name changed) said that she wants a permanent method which is hassle free. Shankaran was fully in support. He wanted a safe and simple method. I looked straight into them and said “Shankaran, why don’t you undergo a vasectomy operation?” And he looked at me with complete disbelief! “You mean me? I should undergo surgery? It is women’s job. Isn’t it?” was his immediate reaction.
Such reactions are not uncommon at all aamongst Indian males when it comes to family planning. For years together family welfare and contraception was considered to be the female’s responsibility. Most men are “kind of” least concerned about this topic in women’s health. Naturally female sterilization gained significant popularity in India. The NGO, “Health Rights Watch” published a report in 2012 stating that female surgery is socially more acceptable.
In our society men and women both are under genuine impression that male sterilization will reduce the vigour and virility of the male counterpart. They may not be able to perform sex. They may not be able build their bodies or pump their biceps. They may get tired to fast. Let me tell you that all these are 100 % misconceptions.
In fact this procedure is one of the safest medical procedures. The nature has kept male genitalia out side the body. So the “male tube/ Nas” (vas difference) lies just below the skin of the scrotum. It is obvious that it can be reached very easily. In case of a woman the female tube (fallopian tube) is inside the tummy, deep down …next to her uterus. Naturally for a female sterilization one needs to make a small key hole on the abdomen and reach to the tube. All this will obviously need anaesthesia too. In case of a male, it can be done under local anaesthesia or just a sedation. In the new technique called no scalpel vasectomy one does not need even a single stitch on the skin. The man can actually walk out of the operation room and go home in some time. The man does not need to take prolonged rest and can resume work on the next day.
Out of all the family planning surgeries performed in India not even 10% are male sterilizations. China performs better than us. In developed countries such as UK, USA and Australia the proportion of male sterilizations is much higher. In some countries it exceeds the number of female sterilizations.
The modern men need to be aware of this. I see that men are taking their share of responsibilities in upbringing of the children. The time has come that they take important role in controlling their family size too.
I am happy to note that state of Maharashtra has shown highest number of male surgeries in 2016. The special officer, family welfare Dr Asha Advani and her team must be congratulated for that. I strongly believe in the ease and safety of male family planning surgery. And I am proud to say that as a part of inauguration of my Lifewave Hospital we had conducted vasectomy camp in which we provided the surgeries completely free of cost!
