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Health ministry to launch injectable contraceptive in public health system under NFPP
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Ramesh Shankar, Mumbai
January 12 , 2016
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The Union health ministry will soon introduce the injectable
contraceptive depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) in the public
health system under the National Family Planning Programme (NFPP) as the
Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), in its latest meeting held on
August 18, 2015, has finally given its nod for the same.
DMPA is
a hormonal injectable contraceptive having depot medroxyprogesterone.
The sustained level of edroxyprogesterone acetate present in the
injection suppresses ovulation in the women. It can protect against
pregnancy for a period of 11-14 weeks. DMPA, when administered at the
recommended dose to women every 3 months, inhibits the secretion of
gonadotropins which, in turn, prevents follicular maturation and
ovulation and results in endometrial thinning. These actions produce its
contraceptive effect.
Even though the health ministry has been
making repeated efforts for the last some years to introduce the
injectable contraceptive DMPA in the public health system under the
NFPP, the DTAB has not been giving its nod for its introduction on
safety concerns.
In the previous meeting in April this year,
after refusing to give its nod, the DTAB had asked the department of
family welfare to consult the leading gynaecologists in the country.
Accordingly,
the National Consultative Meeting on Expanding the Basket of Choice in
Family Planning was held on July 24, 2015. The co-chairs Dr. Sunita
Mittal and Dr. Sudha Prasad moderated and facilitated the session and a
consensus was arrived at that the injectables are a suitable and
feasible method for introduction in the program. The studies of ICMR
with Net-EN and Mesigyna injectables has been conducted successfully in
India and the product has been in the private sector with the
concurrence of DCGI for the last 20 years with no untoward events
reported, a pilot is therefore not required before including it in the
basket of choice under FP.
It was also felt that injectable is
an important contraceptive method and much in demand by the community,
therefore it should be introduced pan India, at all levels up to the
sub-centres. Restricting its availability only up to higher level like
the medical colleges and district hospitals will defeat the purpose of
its introduction as a beneficiary.
The DTAB after deliberations
agreed to the introduction of the injectable contraceptive DMPA in the
public health system under National Family Planning Programme.
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