Maharashtra: Reports emerge alleging mass hysterectomies on women, health minister promises action

Maharashtra Health Minister Deepak Sawant on Thursday said he will inquire into the reports of hysterectomies allegedly done without valid reasons in various districts in the state.

"I will check the veracity of these claims. If anything of this nature is happening, action will be taken," the minister told reporters in Mumbai after a report was aired by a Marathi channel on doctors performing mass hysterectomies on gullible women for money. Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus.

Nandkumar Panse, who conducts cancer awareness camp for the Barshi-based Nargis Dutt Cancer Hospital, said such cases rose in last four years in districts including Latur, Beed and Osmanabad.

"The hysterectomy surgeries were conducted on women engaged in sugarcane cutting and belonging to low income group and mostly from illiterate background," he said.

Shashikant Ahankari of Hello Foundation (an NGO working in Marathwada) said corruption in medical profession is responsible for the rising cases of hysterectomy operations sans any valid reasons.

"Sometimes the surgery is performed on women in their mid-20s," Ahankari said. The doctors terrify women stating non-removal of uterus leads to cancer, he said.