Tribal women made to lie down in open after tubectomy in Udaipur village

Udaipur :  Lakhs of rupees are spent on medical and health services specially for rural areas, however, due to sheer negligence of authorities and female sterilization not on the priority list, poor patients are left to suffer. Such an incident has been reported from the community health center in Jhadol, a remote tribal block,  where women/patients were made to sleep out in the open gallery of the hospital without giving proper beddings and  quilts after they underwent sterlization surgery. According to sources, a sterilization camp was scheduled for tuesday and some 35 women had been registered for  tubectomy.

Sources claimed the medical team that went from Udaipur reached some 3 hours late due to extreme bad weather. At the CHC, most of the beds were occupied by delivery cases and hence many women were asked to lie down on the ground in the gallery after the operation. ” It is not only risky but also violation of rules because as per the Indian Public Health guidelines, there should be atleast 6 feet distance between the beds where patients are kept. Keeping the patients in such a condition without proper care could prove fatal as they could develop infection” a senior doctor claimed.

According to sources, there is a provision of special budget for such  sterilization camps and approximately one thousand rupees per patient is sanctioned to cover the lodging, bedding and breakfast expenses. As per norms  any woman who undergoes tubectomy could be discharged within 24 hours normally, however, if she is coming from a distant place, the department has to give lodging facility too and proper medical care and sanitation has to be maintained to avoid any complicacy.

Tubectomy not on proiority list

On one hand while lakhs of rupees are spent on familyplanning programs, on the other hand sterilization program is said to be noton the prioritylist of the district level authorities because this is mainly a three-month program, sources claim. In Mewar region specially, most of the sterilizations take place from November to January as agriculture work takes a back seat and women turnup for operations as they do not require to work in  fields andhence can have ample rest at homes. Due to the pressure of target fulfillment, sterilization camps are taken up howver, the financial authorities do notrelease the stipulated budget in time and thus the medical staff at rural areas are not in a position to make proper arrangements for the patients.

” Our Jhadol CHC has 30 beds and most remain always occupied as we recieve many delivery cases. Some 35 women turned up for the sterlization camp and since the beds were occupied, we had to make arrangements for few women in the gallery. Those women who were injected before being operated were asked to lie down in the gallery, these are not the ones who had undergone surgery”

Dr Ragini Aggarwal, Program Officer- Female Sterilization