Odisha probes violation of sterlisation guidelines

The guidelines prohibit surgery on more than 30 people in a single day by one doctor.

Bhubaneswar:  A probe was launched Wednesday into the alleged violation of government guidelines at a sterlisation camp in Odisha where sterlisations were conducted on 62 women and six men, an official said.

Senior health officials have been sent to the primary health centre at Ichchapur, over 600 kms from here, to probe the incident when a government doctor alleged conducted the operations in Nabarangpur district this week, District Collector Md. Sadique Alam told IANS.

The guidelines prohibit surgery on more than 30 people in a single day by one doctor. The surgeries are also supposed to be conducted between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

However, the doctor not only operated on 62 women, the operations continued through the night. He also conducted vasectomies on six men at the camp.

"The surgeries were conducted from 10 a.m. Monday to 2.45 a.m. Tuesday," a media report said.

The media reports also said the women spent the night on hospital verandah. Some of them had been left to sleep under the open sky in cold as there was not enough space.

"It has come to my notice. It is a clear cut violation of guidelines. I am on my way to the health centre. I will investigate the matter and submit a report to the authority soon," Chief District Medical Officer Niranjan Nayak told IANS.

The doctor who conducted the operations could not be contacted as his mobile was unreachable.

Meanwhile, taking strong note of the use of a bicycle on 56 women by another doctor during tubectomies Nov 28 in the state's Angul district, the state government has issued a ban on sterilisation camps after a public outcry.

"We have issued instructions... Only established health care centres with a proper operation theatre and necessary equipment can conduct such surgeries under strict guidelines," a senior official of the state health department said.

"Mahesh Prasad Rout, the surgeon who used the bicycle pump has been de-empanelled and a show cause notice has been served on him," he said.

Rout had conducted sterilisation surgeries at the community health centre in Banarpal in Angul district and used a bicycle pump to inflate the women's abdomen Friday while conducting laparoscopic tubectomy.

Laparoscopic tubectomy is a surgical procedure conducted on women as a permanent method of contraception.

IANS