BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is in a quandary. It is facing a strange problem shortage of condoms and other contraceptives to get its family planning programmes going. The Health department has shot off a letter to the Union Health Ministry seeking adequate and uninterrupted supply of contraceptives so that the spacing programmes are not affected. The department’s argument is that condom supply from the Centre has remained erratic affecting the birth control programmes.The State has received just 26 per cent of the condom requirement for the current year, way below the mark. The short supply, as the letter reveals, is causing problems in promotion of the spacing methods among the targeted beneficiaries.“Keeping in view the supply trend, it was observed that Odisha has never received 100 per cent of its contraceptive requirement during the last couple of years. Condom, in particular, has never been supplied as per the requirement,” the letter said.While the Centre supplies contraceptives for free, it recently launched a new scheme under which ASHA workers are delivering the contraceptives at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries. The scheme is being piloted in 18 districts, where different types of oral and emergency contraceptives are supplied.As per the statistics available, the annual requirement of condoms for the current year was 1,88,64,032 units whereas the State has received just 49,84,000 (26.5 pc) as yet. Similarly, supply of tubal rings was to the tune of 76 pc of the requirement placed before the ministry.In fact, it is the current stock which has led to concern as the department apprehends that with the available units, it will be difficult to give informed choice of services to the targeted beneficiaries. The condom stock is just 1.13 lakh, while the tubal rings available are 17,253. The availability of other two contraceptives is normal though.Health and Family Welfare Secretary Anu Garg, however, pointed out this is not an isolated case with Odisha. Shortage of contraceptives is felt by most of the States, and there is no need for concern since the available stock is sufficient. “We have just alerted the Centre about the needs,” she said. Last year, the Centre had provided the full quota of contraceptives although all those were received during the last quarter of the financial year.
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