A fact finding report on the death of 16 women at a Chattisgarh sterilisation camp in November has ruled out the presence of zinc phosphide in the medicine as the only cause of death. The report lists several lapses that could have caused infection leading to the deaths.
The report 'Robbed of Choice and Dignity: Indian Women Dead after Mass Sterilisation' drafted by a fact finding team, comprising members from four NGOs, the Population Foundation of India, Parivar Seva Sansthan, Family Planning Association of India and Common Health says though the state government has attributed the deaths to zinc phosphide poisoning, the women should have consumed at least 4.5 gms of it.
“According to medical experts and toxicologists, for the women to die from zinc phosphide poisoning, they should have consumed 4.5 gms of it, but the Ciprofloxacin pills they took were 500 milligrams and not all of it was zinc phosphide. Some of the women complained of uneasiness after consuming two pills,” said Sona Sharma, joint-director, advocacy and communication, Population Foundation of India.
Referring to the lapses that buttress their claims of the women being infected by being operated in aseptic conditions, Poonam Mutreja of the PFI said many as 83 surgeries were conducted at the camp in 90 minutes, there was only one laproscope used and post mortem examinations of the first seven deaths at the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences and the District Hospital had evidence of peritonitis and septi foci in the lungs and kidneys, also suggesting septicaemia.
The team also found that some of the critical cases admitted at Apollo Hospital showed raised levels of pro calcitonin that suggests septicaemia.
Based on interviews with doctors and support staff involved in the service delivery, as well as the women who had been sterilised, and family members of those who had died, the team says it has evidence of the surgeries being botched up. “A nurse on condition of anonymity said the procedure were not followed. There has been a cover up from day one,” Ms. Mutreja said.
Asking the government to make all reports on the case public, the team has also urged the Centre to set up an independent fact finding team.
The report has also recommended moving away from female sterilisation and incentive based family planning to increasing the bouquet of services for spacing methods.
Analysing the expenditure on family planning, the team points out that for the year 2013-14, India spent Rs 396.97 crore on female sterilisation, which constitutes 85 per cent of the total expenditure.
