Odisha doctor uses bicycle pumps for sterilisation, inflates women abdomen during laproscopic tubectomy

IndiaToday.in  Bhubaneswar, November 30, 2014 |

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  • Pumps used to inflate abdomen of 56 women during sterilisation
  • Doctors, staff in sterilisation camp in the dock
  • State government orders serious probe

It seems no lesson has been learnt from the horrific Chhattisgarh sterilisation tragedy where about 13 women lost their lives. A new case has emerged in Bhubaneswar wherein a doctor used a bicycle pump to inflate the abdomen of 56 women while conducting laparoscopic tubectomy on them.
The doctor Mahesh Prasad Rout operated the women on Friday at a sterilisation camp organised by local authorities at Banarpal village, about 150 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

Although, the surgeon defended the procedure saying that the use of such pumps is not new, it angered the local residents. With the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party staging protests, the government ordered a probe into the incident.

Doctor’s weird explanation:
“I am not alone. Surgeons often use bicycle pump in the rural camps where the facility of an operation theatre and other sophisticated equipments are not available,” Mahesh Prasad Rout said.

“I am not alone. Surgeons often use bicycle pump in the rural camps where the facility of an operation theatre and other sophisticated equipments are not available “Rout told IANS.

Rout said he has performed more than 60,000 such surgeries in a decade and received awards from the government and never come across any complaints.

Laparoscopic tubectomy is a surgical procedure conducted on women as a permanent method of contraception.

“The doctors should have used an insufflator to pump carbon dioxide gas into the abdomen of women. The insufflator has an automatic adjustment of gas pressure and flow performance. It keeps the process safe,” a senior surgeon of a private hospital said.

But Rout said insufflators are still not available in many hospitals and doctors are under pressure to use pumps as an alternative in camps. “We sterilise the pipe and nozzle tip of the pump before use,” he said

Dr Mahesh Chandra Rout, who operated on the women, said, “Cycle pumps are routinely used in many other parts of the state in the absence of costly medical equipment. There is no reason to make a big fuss about it as it has been proved fairly safe, and an affordable alternative.”

He claimed he had performed 60,000 sterilization surgeries so far and had received awards from chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2012 and 2013 for conducting the highest number of such operations in a year.

Health secretary Arti Ahuja said the government had asked the Angul district collector, Sachin Ramachandra Jadhav, to conduct an inquiry. “Stringent action will be taken against whoever is found guilty,” she said.

Jadhav said Angul sub-collector PK Das had been asked to look into the matter and submit a report within seven days.

Several workers and women activists of the BJP Saturday staged protests and ransacked the government health centre at Banarpal where the surgeries were performed.

State health secretary Arti Ahuja said the government has directed the administrative chief of the concerned district to probe into the incident and submit a report within seven days.

– With inputs from IANS