Bihar: Tubectomy Performed On Women Without Anaesthesia, Probe Ordered

Incidents of medical negligence have been very common across India and their results have proved to be even fatal in a lot of cases. Recently, several women who went forward with a contraception method called tubectomy in Bihar's Khagaria district faced discomfort and pain post their procedures, and it was later found out that the healthcare professionals made severe negligence on their behalf in their cases. It is well known that the health department of Bihar permits NGOs to organise healthcare for women including surgeons, doctors, paramedics, and equipment to conduct the procedure of tubectomies since the state faces a shortage of specialists for the same.

A probe has been ordered in Bihar to investigate the controversy around the tubectomy surgeries that were performed at two public health care centres on twenty-three women without giving them local anaesthesia.

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Tubectomy performed without anaesthesia in Bihar Public healthcentre

A 30-year-old woman who underwent a tubectomy at a public health centre in Bihar complained that she had to bear massive pain during the procedure as she was not given local anaesthesia prior to the surgery. Several other women who went through the same thing alleged that the healthcare professionals treated them like animals and did not assist them well while they were complaining of pain.

The top authorities in Bihar have now directed the concerned department to look into the matter following which a probe has been ordered for the same. The civil surgeon Amar Nath Jha has been instructed to investigate the women’s allegations. It is also alleged that the NGOs helming the cause also behaved irresponsibly and did not intervene in the matter.

The two NGOs Foundation for Reproductive Health Services and Global Development Initiatives were given these respective licenses to organise the tubectomy procedures in places of Alouli and Parbatta.

Jha stated that the probe into the matter has already begun after the district magistrate Alok Ranjan Ghosh instructed him the same. The matter came to light after the local media reported the incident soon after the procedures happened. Jha told a news agency that he will be filing his detailed report in the next two days. "Necessary action will be taken in the next two days after the report is filed," he said, pointing out the negligence on behalf of the NGOs involved too. He further said that if found guilty of carrying lapses in their process, the license of both organisations will be cancelled.

"It is mandatory for doctors to use local anaesthesia for performing tubectomy. In case the anaesthesia doesn’t work, the dosage has to be increased so that the patient undo the procedure and does not feel pain. and discomfort," he said.

Similar incident 

A similar incident occurred in 2015 in Bihar when the city of Aralia when 53 women in the region underwent tubectomies without being given local anaesthesia. The incident was reported in time and the authorities found three people guilty of the crime for which they were jailed on the grounds of risking people's lives due to irresponsible behaviour and medical negligence.

These kinds of procedures happening with NGOs as mediators are very common in Bihar, and it is said that the state’s health department pays almost ₹2150 to these organisations for every tubectomy.