No free diagnostic services for women with more than three children: Assam hospital

A government hospital in western Assam’s Barpeta district has decided not to provide free diagnostic services from July 1 to any woman with more than three children or expecting her fourth baby.

Announcing this on Monday (June 22, 2026), State Assembly Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass said he has also advised Health Minister Ashok Singhal to implement this system in all government healthcare facilities across the State.

Mr. Dass, the local MLA, is the president of the management committee of the First Referral Unit (FRU) in the Barpeta Road town.

Speaking after the installation of a modern ultrasound machine at the FRU, he said its management committee has decided not to extend free services to women with more than three children or likely to deliver a fourth baby. “Otherwise, our population policy will be defeated,” he said.

“I have also requested our Health Minister to come up with a pan-Assam policy ending free medical tests and other services across all our facilities for such women,” Mr. Dass said.

In December 2025, the Assam government notified an amendment to a 2017 policy on population and women’s empowerment to reinforce the two-child norm for government jobs, self-help groups, and electoral participation.

However, the Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam (Amendment) of 2025 allowed certain communities to have up to three children without losing access to government jobs and benefits, and the eligibility to contest elections to panchayats and urban local bodies.

These communities are Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, ‘Tea Garden Tribes’, and the Mataks and Morans. The policy came into effect immediately after the State’s Health and Family Welfare Department issued the notification on December 5, 2025.

The government justified the notification, saying it seeks to curb population growth, promote maternal health, and eliminate early marriage.