Doctors perform operation under torches at govt hospital in MP

Guided by torches and emergency lights, 37 women, scheduled to undergo sterilisation at a government hospital in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, were operated on Thursday. The patients, along with their relatives, had to go through this nightmarish experience owing to a power cut and as both the generator and inverter remained non-functional at the hospital.

Satna: In a case of gross medical negligence, 37 women, scheduled to undergo sterilisation at a government hospital in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, were operated upon; guided by torches and emergency lights.

The patients, along with their relatives, had to go through this nightmarish experience owing to a power cut and as both the generator and inverter remained non-functional at the hospital. In addition to this, the shortage of beds had forced them to seek refuge on the hospital corridor, without blankets or provision for attendants to take care of them post-operation.

"We were made to wait for hours before the doctors arrived at the hospital. No facilities were provided to us and now, they performed the surgery without proper lights in the operation theatre. This is heights of negligence," rued an attendant of one of the patients.

Narrating a similar ordeal, another attendant told ETV Bharat: "If there was no electricity, it should have been supplemented with either a generator or inverter. We, all the 50-60 people present here are suffering and the department is indifferent to our plight."

When questioned about the incident, District health officer Ashok Awadhia said that they would launch a probe and inspect the facilities at the hospital. "It may lack many facilities, but the hospital administration is trying its best to overcome the hurdles."

Meanwhile, this is not an isolated incident. There have been several instances of botched up sterilisation operations across the country. On November 30, atleast 35 women, were sterilised in a remote Birsinghpur Community Health Centre in Satna under torchlight and candlelight in the absence of electricity.

Though, Chief Minister Kamal Nath had tweeted about it and was expected that the Health Department would initiate action, nothing seems to be have done so far with a similar incident reported from the state.

In September 2016, the Supreme Court of India ordered the government to shut down sterilisation camps across India within three years. Though women can still go to health clinics and request to have tubectomies, sterilisation camps run either by state government officials or outsourced to local NGOs, in which doctors go out to villages and encourage women to have their tubes tied, will be illegal.