Eleven women died and 49 others were hospitalised after botched sterilisation procedure at a state-run camp in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, prompting the government to suspend four doctors and transfer the Director of Health Services.
60 women were admitted to different hospitals after they developed post-operative complications at a sterilisation camp organised by the government at a private hospital in Pendari village on the outskirts of Bilaspur town on Saturday, district Collector Siddharth Komal Pardeshi said on Tuesday. Eleven of them, all below 32 years of age, died from complications, Pardeshi told PTI. Expressing concern over the sterilisation tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked Chief Minister Raman Singh to ensure a thorough investigation and action against those responsible. Modi, who left for Myanmar in the morning to attend ASEAN and East Asia summit, called up Singh to inquire about the tragedy.
"The PM spoke to Chhattisgarh CM Dr Raman Singh on the unfortunate tragedy in Bilaspur. The PM expressed concern over the tragedy. "The PM has asked Dr Raman Singh to ensure a thorough investigation & action in the entire issue," the PMO said in a tweet. Under attack from opposition Congress which demanded his resignation, the Chief Minister announced a high-level probe into the incident and suspended four health officials, including the Chief Medical and Health Officer of Bilaspur and transferred Director of Health Services Dr Kamalpreet Singh.
Singh also ordered registration of FIR against the surgeon under whose supervision the camp was organised at Nemichand Jain Cancer and Research Centre where 83 women had undergone surgical procedures. "It's a very unfortunate incident. Prima facie it appears that the incident occurred due to negligence (by doctors). A detailed enquiry will be conducted keeping in view all angles including the quality of the medicines, standard of the surgery, post operative measures and others," he said.
A three-member committee has been constituted to investigate the incident, the Chief Minister said. Meanwhile, opposition Congress has given a call for Chhattisgarh bandh on Wednesday in protest against the incident. The state government initially announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each of the victims, but the Chief Minister raised it to Rs 4 lakh, while Rs 50,000 would be given to those undergoing treatment, the cost of which will be borne by the government.
Chief Medical and Health Officer of Bilaspur R K Bhange, laparoscopic surgeon Dr R K Gupta, State Programme Convener, family planning, Dr K C Urao and Block Medical Officer, Takhatpur, Dr Pramod Tiwari have been suspended in connection with the incident. Deputy Director Health Services Amar Singh said preliminary examination suggested hypovolemic shock, an emergency condition in which severe blood and fluid loss make the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body, or septic infection as possible causes for the deaths. However, the exact reason would be known only after autopsies are conducted.
The women, who had been operated upon, had been discharged after providing them medicines the same night but within 24 hours of the surgery most of them began vomiting and complained of abdominal pain following which 60 were rushed to different hospitals. During the treatment, two of them - Janaki Bai (26) and Dipti Yadav (27) - admitted to Bilaspur district hospital, passed away yesterday, the Collector said. Six others namely Rekha Nirmalkar, Nembai Suryawanshi, Ranjita, Phool Bai, Chandra Bai and Sunita Bai -- all aged between 22-32 years -- died last night at a private hospital after their condition worsened, he said.
Besides, Pushpa Dhruv (25) and two more women, whose identity is being established, died this evening at a private hospital, the collector added. Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress here demanded resignation of the Chief Minister and the Health and Family Welfare Minister Amar Agrawal, in whose district the tragedy has occurred, and has given a call for Chhattisgarh bandh on Wednesday.
"No lesson has been learnt from the past mistakes. It reflects the criminal mindset of the state government. Even after botched cataract surgeries cases in Balod, Bagbahra and Raigarh, uterus removal incident...and now this tragedy during the tenure of Health Minister Amar Agrawal; he has yet not been sacked," Congress state unit chief Bhupesh Baghel said. As many as 62 people were left blind in one eye after they underwent surgeries at cataract camps held between 2011-13 in the state. As per government statistics, a total of 44 people lost vision in an eye after they underwent cataract operation in the camp held at community health centres at Balod on September 29, 2011.
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