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File photo. A patient recuperates on a hospital bed after undergoing a free sterilization procedure at the Mohan Lal Gautam District Women's Hospital in Aligarh, India. AP/Press Association Images
Surgery
Eight women have died in India after a government sterilisation programme went wrong
Another 64 women are in hospital, with 24 of them in serious condition.
EIGHT WOMEN HAVE died in India and dozens more are in a critical condition after a state-run sterilisation programme designed to control the country’s billion-plus population went badly wrong.
More than 60 women are in hospital after suffering complications from the surgery over the weekend and 24 of them are seriously ill, authorities in the central state of Chhattisgarh confirmed today.
“Reports of a drop in pulse, vomiting and other ailments started pouring in on Monday from the women who underwent surgery,” said Sonmani Borah, the commissioner for Bilaspur district where the camp was held.
Since Monday, eight women have died and 64 are in various hospitals.
The government would investigate what went wrong, he added, as angry residents took to the streets of Bilaspur to demand immediate action against the doctors.
‘Women dumped unconscious’
State governments in India frequently organise mass sterilisation camps under a national programme whereby women are given 1,400 rupees (€18) as an incentive to undergo the procedure.
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.
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.
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Patients get registered for a free sterilization procedure at the Mohan Lal Gautam District Women's Hospital in Aligarh, India. 2011 AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
The Indian Express daily said the surgeries in Chhattisgarh were carried out by one doctor and his assistant in around five hours.
The chief medical officer of Bilaspur R.K. Bhange told the newspaper:
There was no negligence. He is a senior doctor. We will probe (the incident).
The medical superintendent of the main hospital in Bilaspur where many women were admitted said it was difficult to say what could have caused the deaths.
“It would be premature to speculate on the reasons for this tragedy. We are giving priority to treating the woman admitted here as their blood pressure has gone down,” Ramnesh Murthy told reporters late on Monday.
“We will know the reasons only once the post-mortem is completed.”
A patient waits to undergo a free sterilization procedure at the Mohan Lal Gautam District Women's Hospital in Aligarh, India. 2011 AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
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% of the population that reported using any form of family planning opted for female sterilisation.
@Damocles: A perusal of the Continental newspapers over recent weekd will show that these children have been responsible for some horrific rapes including gang-rapes.
@Guy Incognito: Normally I ignore trolling but in your case i will make an exception “A perusal of the Continental newspapers over recent weeks” You are aware that they have newspapers on the Continent ?
I believe what the report said was two thirds of those who had their age challenged were found not to be children. Not two thirds of all child refugees.
@MackPilon: You claim that children trying to get into Britain have been involved in rapes on the Continent. You need to support that in some way; otherwise it will appear that you are trying to smear child refugees in general.
Damocles. This isn’t anything new. Do a Google on athletics cross country competitions in some African countries and there isn’t a hope some of the lads competing under age are actually underage. They are clearly fully grown adults.
A minor issue? Good grief. You can be sure that if you put incorrect information on your landing card in New York or Sydney you’d be pulled up on it immediately. I think the phrase you are looking for is anti illegal immigrant rather than anti immigrant. And fraudulently entering a country by giving incorrect information whether by accident or on purpose is quite serious.
@Ian O Connell: The left are obsessed with the idea that the evil capitalists create racism, and borders, to divide and rule the working class. So anyone paying what they deem to be an inappropriate amount of attention to something like abuses of the asylum system must be on the side of the capitalists – therefore far right. I won’t even begin to pick apart how detached from reality they are.
@Martin Flood: I wouldn’t put much trust in the Daily Mail when it comes to this stuff, their record of xenophobia is mind boggling and they peddle this stuff to their followers and have done for generations. Paper never refused ink could have been coined to describe them alone.
@Martin Flood: I occasionally read the Daily Mail and it feels like a cross between a creche, a zoo and a care home. You just need a big bag of salt to take regular pinches from. Good fun though unless you’re on the receiving end of their “journalism”.
@Joe Arthur Hardly any more Joe, especially the Irish edition of the Mail, which on social issues is quite liberal. This issue is also a problem in schools, where some migrant ‘children’ register for a school place to secure children’s allowance. Free for all open border globalism is causing a lot of problems
I’m struggling to think of a situation where somebody who’s 35 and claiming to be 16 isn’t inappropriate and unethical. Can you give us examples where it’s not, Neal?
Same problem has existed for a long time in Europe’s asylum system. People with unknown identities, ages,criminal records and origins should not be permitted entry to any sane country. Take the 60 year old Christian woman whipped for selling alcohol in Indonesia instead. That would be both ethical and compatible with self preservation.
I’m in favour of a straight up polygraph test, should find out much more regarding truthfulness in statements made regarding background, origins, affiliations or past criminal activity…
I like the way it’s ‘unethical’ to conduct an age test, but lying on a asylum application is perfectly fine.
Medical ethics have a very much made-up-on-the-fly feel to them sometimes. There’s mandatory drawing of blood for all sorts of purposes, and nary a squeak about it. Is a dental X-ray to establish whether a crime is being committed really so different?
You should see some of the U10′s or U12′s or U14′s etc playing schools football each weekend. And it only benefits the oddball manager who is thrilled that his star can score multiple hat tricks against kids 5 years younger. We have been living with this for years now.
Would you trust these guys around your daughter, niece, sister, mother, grand-mother, aunt ?
Any libtard that wishes to accuse me of being a racist is welcome to do so.
In Greece, a Syrian 15-year-old boy called Firas is being held in juvenile detention. He was sent on his own by his parents, who are in Turkey, because they didn’t have enough for the whole family to be smuggled in. Because hes’ not Turkish, the Turkish government won’t let him re-enter Turkey. Two activists – an American woman and her husband, who is a Syrian refugee – are hoping to become his legal guardians so that he will be released.
Many Middle-Eastern and Central Asian, e.g. Afghan, parents who originate from areas of conflict are irresponsible – they send the children on their own with people-smugglers. Therefore, it is Firas’s parents’ fault that he is apart from them. Parents who actually love their children would never do that to them.
If as claimed two thirds of the ‘children’ who claim asylum in the UK are in fact adults, then that raises obvious questions as to whether the same happens in this country. We should perform these tests here too
@Rosa Parks: No it’s something more like two thirds of those whose age is tested. The dental tests are not all that reliable anyway and Irish dentists, like the Swedes too, will probably baulk at doing it. France does bone tests I believe – another reason not to apply for asylum in France of course. There is no real getting around the fact that it’s just crazy to allow people to enter your country when you have no idea who they are.
@Liviu Flore: It does happen, of course. But it’s not really about this group and a few photos. There are huge incentives for migrants to claim to be underage throughout Europe – because we quite rightly treat children travelling alone differently to adults. Including in the criminal justice system and when it comes to deportation.
And the phenomenon of migrants lying about their age is very well documented. It”s what many sensible youngish looking people would do if you were in their shoes weighing up the costs and incentives before you. The only debate in France, Sweden etc is about what to do about it. Spoiler alert: they have no idea.
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