Chhattisgarh CM orders judicial probe into botched sterilisations

Reacting to the botched sterilisation surgeries in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday ordered a judicial probe into the incident which has left 12 women dead. “We have decided to hold a judicial inquiry, none of the culprits will be spared,” NDTV quoted Singh as saying. This comes after the surgeon, who conducted sterilisation surgeries on 83 women at a state-run camp which claimed the lives of 12 women in Pendari village in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, was arrested. Laparoscopic surgeon Dr RK Gupta was taken into custody from his relative’s place in neighbouring Balodabazar district late last night, Inspector General of Police, Bilaspur Range, Pawan Dev told PTI today. He has been charged with section 304 II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the IG said. Incidentally, Dr Gupta was honoured on Republic Day this year for conducting 50,000 surgeries all through his career. Dr Gupta was suspended on Tuesday and an FIR was lodged against him in connection with deaths of women who underwent botched tubectomies procedure at the sterilisation camp in Pendari on the outskirts of Bilaspur town on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_1797259” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] As many as 13 women have died due to botched surgeries at different sterilisation camps held under the National Family Planning programme in the home district of Health Minister Amar Agrawal, in the past three days. Of the 83 women who were operated upon at Nemichand Jain Cancer and Research Centre at Pendari village of Takhatpur block on November 8, 12 of them died, while Chaiti Bai, who passed away yesterday, was the lone casualty from the camps at Pendra block where around 56 women underwent surgeries at three different camps on Monday. As per the officials, around 56 women underwent surgeries at sterilisation camps held in Pendra, Gaurela and Marwahi, located around 120 kms away from Bilaspur district headquarter on November 10, two days after the Pendari sterilisation camp. Chaiti Bai, belonging to Baiga vulnerable tribe, was among around 26 women who were admitted to the Bilapsur district hospital yesterday after they developed complications following the surgeries at Community centre at Pendra. “As a precautionary measure we are shifting all the women who underwent surgery in Pendra to hospitals of Bilaspur,” Borah said. Sixty-eight women, operated in Pendari camp are already undergoing treatment at different hospitals of Bilaspur, he added. Under attack from opposition Congress which demanded his resignation, Chief Minister Raman Singh had announced a high-level probe and suspended four officials, including the Chief Medical and Health Officer of Bilaspur and transferred Director, Directorate Health Services Kamalpreet Singh. “They can’t blame me alone for the incident. Entire administration is responsible for it. Whatever charges have been imposed on me should also be imposed on all suspended officials and BHO,” the doctor demanded. “I am being dragged into it just to save the skin of the administration. 83 operations was not only my task, but it was for all the doctors who were there,” alleged Gupta, who has performed over 50,000 sterilisation surgeries in his career. Meanwhile, National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), a women’s wing of CPI said that the incident has exposed the lie of the much-talked social progress achieved by Raman Singh government. Expressing shock and anger over the incident, NFIW in a statement said, “we demand that owning responsibility, the state Health minister should resign and the Chief Minister should begin criminal procedures against the minister for not ensuring safety norms which led to the death of more than 10 women and left many more in serious conditions.” It also said the Chhattisgarh government should explain that in spite of having advanced methods for sterilization for men why only women were subjected to such “population stabilization” process. “Government should also explain what was the promise or threats to the innocent people to participate in large numbers in such camps organized in different districts of the state,” it said. With inputs from PTI