12 dead after botched sterilizations in India

By Dustin M Braden - 12 Nov '14 19:05PM

Twelve women are dead after an Indian mass sterilization campaign, and relatives say they were, "herded like cattle."

A relative of one of the deceased women claims that victims were 'forced' into camps.

The Indian authorities are investigated a state-run mass sterilization camp in the state of Chhattisgarh where more than 80 women had surgery for laparoscopic tubectomies.

The camp came under public scrutiny after 60 of those women fell ill, with 12 of them in very serious condition while 12 of them died, possibly due to complications of the surgery. The death toll is expected to rise, The Guardian reported.

Government-run mass sterilization camps are conducted regularly throughout the country in an effort to control population growth. India has a population of more than one billion and is the second most populous country in the world after China.

Indian authorities suspended four doctors and officials, and a criminal complaint was filed. The chief minister of Chhattaisgarh, Raman Singh said that the incident was a serious matter of negligence and called it unfortunate, according to the Guardian.

A relative of one of the victims said that health officials assured them that everything would be fine and the operation was a minor one. He claimed that women were herded like cattle and forced into the operations.

The victims were from poor, rural communities and they didn't receive any health evaluation before the operations, which critics claim was one of the reason for the deaths. Even though the exact cause of the deaths is not definite yet, health officials said that blood loss and infection induced by the usage of non-sterile surgical equipment might be to blame.

Such deaths caused by the state-run sterilization programme have been happening regularly in India. Between 2003 and 2012 there were 1,434 deaths caused by such procedures.

In 2013, footage showing women dumped unconscious in a field after a mass sterilization was reported by a news channel and sparked a public outcry.