Women dumped in field after sterilization in West Bengal
1 min read . Updated: 07 Feb 2013, 06:43 PM IST
PremiumThe women had undergone surgical procedures at a hospital in Malda
Kolkata: Scores of women were dumped unconscious in a field after a mass sterilization because there was no room in hospital for them to recuperate, medical officials said on Thursday.
The women had all undergone surgical procedures at a hospital in the Malda district of West Bengal, around 360 kilometres north of Kolkata, which officials admitted was not equipped to accommodate such a large number of patients.
The scandal came to light after news channel NDTV aired amateur footage of unconscious women being carried out of the hospital Tuesday by men and then placed on open land.
Local health officials acknowledged that the patients’ treatment was unacceptable and promised an inquiry.
“Over 100 women, mostly poor, came to the camp for the surgery. Immediately after the procedure, the doctors asked the helpers to move each of them to the adjacent field," Biswa Ranjan Satpathi, West Bengal’s director of health services, told AFP in Kolkata.
“This is inhuman and we have ordered a probe into the incident," he added.
Uday Roy, a health campaigner who was present at the sterilization camp, said some of the women were shoved on rickshaws after surgery even though they were clearly in no fit state to make any kind of journey.
Unlike China, India has no laws limiting the number of children a family can have.
