By Muneeza Naqvi
A doctor who conducted sterilisation surgeries that left 13 women dead in central India has been arrested.
R.K. Gupta, who had been hiding since Saturday's operations, was arrested at a relative's home near Bilaspur city late on Wednesday (local time), said 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 surgeries 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 hospitalised, including at least 16 fighting for their lives.
Gupta had performed over 80 sterilisation surgeries 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 told reporters in Bilaspur around 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 as part of its efforts to stabilise India's booming population.
AP
source: newshub archive
