Indian doctor arrested after sterilisation surgery goes wrong, leading to 13 deaths
Medic blames tainted drugs for 13 deaths, not his surgical procedures
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 13 November, 2014, 11:04pm
UPDATED : Friday, 14 November, 2014, 1:03am
Associated Press in New Delhi
Women rest in a hospital in Bilaspur after undergoing sterilisation surgery. A total of 13 women died after the surgery. Photo: Reuters
The doctor who conducted sterilisation procedures after which 13 women died in central India has been arrested and blamed tainted post-surgery drugs for the deaths.
Dr R.K. Gupta, who had been hiding since Saturday's operations, was arrested at a relative's home near Bilaspur city late on Wednesday, said Dr S.K. Mandal, the chief medical officer of Chhattisgarh state.
Gupta denied responsibility for the deaths and blamed medication given to the women after the surgery.
A total of 83 women had the surgery as part of a free government-run mass sterilisation campaign and were sent home that evening. But dozens became ill and were rushed in ambulances to private hospitals in Bilaspur.
Mandal said at least 13 women died and dozens more were sent to hospital, including at least 16 fighting for their lives.
Gupta had performed over 80 sterilisations in six hours - a clear breach of government protocol, which prohibits surgeons from performing more than 30 sterilisations in a day, Mandal said. He said that investigators were also trying to determine whether the women, all of them poor villagers, had been given tainted medicines.
"I have been performing surgeries for a long time and there has never been any problem," Gupta said at the time of his arrest.
He said that all the patients began throwing up and complaining of dizziness and weakness after they were given medication following the operations.
Experts say the deaths are the result of a complete lack of medical oversight and the fact that the government in India sets sterilisation targets.
Women in most Indian states are promised 1,400 rupees (HK$176) when they chose to have laparoscopic, or "keyhole," sterilisation surgeries like those conducted in Bilaspur. The procedure is one of the most commonly performed minimally invasive surgeries, and is usually done under a local anaesthetic.
India has one of the world's highest rates of sterilisation among women, with about 37 per cent undergoing such operations compared with 29 per cent in China, according to the United Nations.
