Dubai: Women can now be sterilised at private hospitals following permission from the emirate's health authority.
The Department of Health and Medical Services partially lifted the 2006 ban on the private sector performing sterilisation procedures on men and women two weeks ago, allowing private hospitals which offer maternity services to offer tubal ligation, in which a woman's fallopian tubes are severed and sealed to prevent fertilisation, and hysterectomy, the removal of a woman's womb. Male sterilisation is still illegal.
A senior official at the Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms), who declined to be named, told Gulf News the authority issued the new requirements to provide residents with some flexibility.
"Under UAE law, such a procedure should only be performed at government institutions ... but it is unfair for patients to come to Dohms all the time for the procedure," he said.
According to the circular, sterilisation procedures can only be performed for medical reasons.
Women can opt for sterilisation if they have had "any medical illness that could endanger their life in future due to pregnancy," if they have had three or more Caesarean sections and requested sterilisation along with the surgery, and have had surgery with complications and any future operations will be dangerous.
The circular also requires the request have consent from the husband and wife, and recommendations from two consultants, which will be signed off by the medical director of the hospital. Dohms officials will then review the request.
Emergency sterilisation procedures can only be done with the husband's consent. The hospital is required to notify Dohms and submit the patient's file for review.
However, the senior official said sterilisation might be allowed for cases that were not purely medical, which would be evaluated on their merits.
Obstetricians Gulf News talked to were pleased with the announcement.
"I have received requests from time to time, [but I couldn't do it],"said Dr Ala Al Sadi, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Jebel Ali Hospital.
He added the regulations should also allow sterilisation from a social standpoint, allowing couples who have completed their family to undergo sterilisation.
"If a woman has five or six children and she is already 35-year-old, then from a social standpoint, why not perform tubal ligation if [both husband and wife] want it? Otherwise, she will have to take the pill for 10 more years [which can be risky]," he said.
Women can opt for sterilisation if they have had "any medical illness that could endanger their life in future due to pregnancy.
