Ten women have died in India and dozens more
are in hospital, some in a critical condition,
after a state-run programme that pays women
to undergo sterilisation went badly wrong,
officials said Tuesday.
Sterilisation is one of the most popular methods
of family planning in India, where the
government provides cash and other incentives
to try to control the country's billion-plus
population, but rights groups say the system is
often abused.
More than 60 women fell ill after undergoing
the surgery over the weekend in the central
state of Chhattisgarh, and 10 have now died,
local official Sonmani Borah told AFP.
"With two more deaths reported today
(Tuesday), the death toll in the family planning
operation-related case has gone up to 10,″ Borah
told AFP by phone.
Around 80 women had the procedure at the
local government-run sterilisation camp.
The women suffered vomiting and a dramatic
fall in blood pressure, said Borah, the
commissioner for Bilaspur district, where the
camp was held.
It was not immediately clear what caused the
deaths, but doctors in the state told AFP the
women's symptoms suggest the drugs they were
given after the relatively simple procedure may
have been the cause.
State governments in India frequently organise
mass sterilisation camps under a national
programme whereby women are given 1,400
rupees ($23) as an incentive to have the
operation.
Under pressure to meet targets, some local
governments also offer other incentives such as
cars and electrical goods to couples
volunteering for sterilisation.
Although the surgery is voluntary, rights groups
say the target-driven nature of the programme
has led to women being coerced into being
sterilised, often in inadequate medical
facilities.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh
suspended four top health officials over the
deaths, while a police complaint was lodged
against the surgeon who performed the
operations.
Singh also announced compensation of 400,000
rupees ($6,500) for each of the families of
those women who died.
- Focus on women -
Angry residents took to the streets of Bilaspur
where many of the women have been
hospitalised demanding action against those
responsible.
The women had undergone laparoscopic
sterilisation, a process in which the fallopian
tubes are blocked, usually under general
anaesthesia.
The Indian Express daily said the surgeries
were carried out by one doctor and his
assistant in around five hours.
"There was no negligence. He is a senior doctor.
We will probe (the incident)," the chief medical
officer of Bilaspur R.K. Bhange told the
newspaper.
Last year, authorities in eastern India came
under fire after a news channel unearthed
footage showing scores of women dumped
unconscious in a field following a mass
sterilisation.
The women had all undergone the procedure at
a hospital that local officials said was not
equipped to accommodate such a large number
of patients.
In 2011, the government issued guidelines
outlining the standard operating procedures
for sterilisation services in camps.
But a 2012 report by Human Rights Watch
urged the government to set up an independent
grievance redress system to allow people to
report coercion and poor quality services at
sterilisation centres.
It also said the government should prioritise
training for male government workers to
provide men with information and counselling
about contraceptive choices.
But despite the recommendations to the
national government, problems persist on the
ground.
India's family planning programme has
traditionally focused on women, and experts
say that male sterilisation is still not accepted
socially.
Government figures from 2008 show that
around one third of the 54 percent of the
population that reported using any form of
family planning opted for female sterilisation.
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