Cebu mayor sets family planning example by undergoing vasectomy

A Cebu municipal mayor undergoes non-scalpel vasectomy today, the first local executive to set an example in family planning, according to an organization supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In a statement, the Management Sciences for Health Agency said Mayor Rex Casiano Gerona of Tabuelan town will undergo surgery for non-scalpel vasectomy (NSV) in the municipality of Tuburan, where the permanent family planning method will be launched.

According to the agency, Gerona is in his mid-30s and has four children.

The NSV launch is a collaboration of the Management Sciences for Health Agency and the local government of Tuburan, whose mayor, Rosemarie Gerona-Sueso, is Gerona’s sister.

Gerona will be operated on ahead of the other male residents who have enlisted for the free NSV services.

More than 1,000 Filipino men have availed themselves of the convenient and effective family planning method in many localities around the country where the Management Sciences for Health Agency is collaborating with local government units in the improvement of quality healthcare.

Unlike tubal ligation for women that is performed in a hospital for more than an hour, NSV is a simple procedure that can be done in 10 minutes or less and has simple surgical requirements such as anesthetics, surgical gloves, needles, sutures, forceps and clamps, the agency said.

It involves cutting and tying the vas deferens — the tubes in the male scrotum where the sperm passes – so that a man can no longer impregnate his wife during sexual contact.

"By accepting NSV, men are also accepting responsibility for birth spacing and family planning. The surgical procedure can change the environment that has long imposed reproductive health burdens on women," the agency said.