Health officials face trouble as no law to stop, penalise home births

Home birth is not natural birth; high-level meet is being planned to handle issue: DPH director

- SINDUJA JANE

AN investigation into the case of a 36-year-old Kundrathur man performing home birth for his wife has brought to light the possibility of several such cases happening across the state.

Based on their inquiries with Manoharan, the husband, police and health department officials found that he was part of a Whats App group promoting home births, with over 1,000 members in it.

However, authorities said their hands are tied since there is no specific law or rule that prohibits home births or enables taking action against people avoiding institutional births.