Eleven women died and 49 others were hospitalised after botched sterilisation procedure at a state-run camp in 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 today. Eleven of them, all below 32 years of age, died due to complications, Pardeshi told newsmen.
Expressing concern over the sterilisation tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked Chief Minister Dr 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. 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.
