Ninety percent of sterilization done on women
JAKARTA (JP): Most women practicing family planning in the capital opt for permanent contraception, an executive of the Indonesian Association for Self-reliant Contraception (PKMI) said yesterday.
"Around 90 percent of the people in Jakarta who have had sterilization surgery are women. The rest are men who chose vasectomies," said Jamalul Insan, the association's project officer.
The association is cooperating with 10 hospitals in Surabaya, East Java, and 16 major hospitals in Jakarta, Jamalul said.
The 16 hospitals in Jakarta include the Mintoharjo Naval Hospital, Tarakan Hospital in Central Jakarta, Koja Hospital in North Jakarta and Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta.
According to Jamalul, these hospitals will charge approximately Rp 45,000 (US$11.50) per person for a vasectomy and Rp 65,000 ($20.60) for a tubaligation.
However, Jamalul said, the costs of surgery depend on the classification of the hospital that will perform the surgery.
"Costs for a tubaligation in Jakarta range between Rp 25,000 and Rp 750,000. For a vasectomy it ranges between Rp 15,000 and Rp 400,000," Jamal said.
He said the two operations take no more than an hour. The doctors need only 15 minutes for a vasectomy and 30 minutes for a tubaligation.
He added that a tubaligation patient requires six hours rest in the hospital's recovery room, while a vasectomy patient could go home shortly after the surgery.
Jamalul said that the chance of failure for the two surgical procedures, in Indonesia, is only 0.7 to one case in every 1,000.
Dr. H.D. Djamal, head of obstetrics and gynecology at Tarakan Hospital, a city-owned medical center, said that in order to qualify for a tubaligation a woman must be more than 30 years of age, have three children, with her youngest child being at least five years old.
Age
Jamalul said that there is no age requirement for a man to have a vasectomy.
Djamal said, despite the easier requirements and lower cost, the number of males participating in the self-reliant contraception program remains small.
"The hospital performs around 10 tubaligations per month. It rarely receives male patients," the doctor said.
Djamal is optimistic that with intense and continuous promotion Indonesian men will understand the importance of male contraception and vasectomies.
The Indonesian Association for Self-reliant Contraception was established in 1974.
The association is a non-governmental organization which has been appointed by the health ministry and the National Coordinating Board for the Family Planning Program to coordinate and supervise the application of self-reliant contraception throughout the country. (mas)