Indian police nab doctor after sterilisation kills 14 women
November 13, 2014, 5:31 am

An Indian woman who has undergone botched sterilization surgery receives treatment at a hospital in Chhattisgarh, India, Nov. 11, 2014 [Xinhua]

An AFP report quoted a local police official as saying R K Gupta was detained for questioning late Wednesday.

Eighty three women underwent the “faulty” sterilisation surgeries at a government-organised family planning camp in Bilaspur in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh, one of India’s poorest state.

The controversial procedure, aimed at controlling population growth, was done in five hours at the free sterilisation camp, organised by the government on November 8.

“Around 60 women fell sick after the surgery and were admitted to different hospitals in Bilaspur,”said the District Collector, the top local official, S.K. Pardeshi.

Meanwhile, twelve more women were in a critical condition on Wednesday in Guarella, in the eastern Indian state of Chattisgarh, where a sterilisation camp was held on November 10.

A total of 56 women underwent the procedure at the second camp.

India runs the world’s largest surgical contraception program.

The Indian government has said it has set up a committee to investigate and action will be taken after the report comes in.

Faulty sterilization procedures have proved fatal for many poor Indian women before this week’s tragedy.

Indian health workers are pressured to reach informal monthly sterilization “targets” set by the local officials.

In the case of Chhattisgarh, the government had a target to carry out 165,000 female sterilizations and 26,000 male sterilizations in 2013-14.

“Access to information, informed consent, and quality of services are often sacrificed by this target-driven approach. Women may not find out about the range of contraceptive methods available or the irreversibility or potential medical complications of sterilization,” says Aruna Kashyap at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

TBP and Agencies