The Indian Medical Association (IMA) seeking the release of the doctor arrested in the sterilisation camp deaths in Chhattisgarh, threatened to otherwise launch a national-level protest.
Addressing a news conference, IMA Secretary General Narendra Saini said the arrested doctor should be released till his guilt is proved.
"Doctor R. K. Gupta should be immediately released because they don't have any evidence against him. They can arrest him against, if they find any evidence, nobody is stopping them. The preliminary inquiry has revealed and owner of the pharmaceutical company should be arrested. If he has been arrested, it is good. The drug inspector and state drug controller should also be arrested and the state health minister should resign," Saini said in New Delhi.
Tablets linked to the deaths of more than a dozen women who visited a sterilisation camp in Bilaspur district are likely to have contained a chemical compound commonly used in rat poison, a senior state official said.
The government arrested Doctor R. K. Gupta who conducted the procedure on the poor women.
Preliminary tests of the antibiotic Ciprocin tablets were found to contain zinc phosphide, Siddhartha Pardeshi, the chief administrator for the Bilaspur district told Reuters.
Authorities tested the tablets after being informed that zinc phosphide was found at the nearby factory of Mahawar Pharmaceuticals, the firm at the centre of investigations into the deaths at a government-run family planning camp, Chhattisgarh health minister Amar Agarwal said.
"Members of our local unit there will wear black badges. After 20th (November) they will take mass leave and even private clinics will be closed. After that we will strike at all India level," added Saini.
The state government said it had seized 200,000 tablets of Ciprocin 500 and over 4 million other tablets manufactured by Mahawar.
Police have arrested Ramesh Mahawar, the firm's managing director, and his son. Mahawar has pleaded not guilty.
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