Uterus Of 226 Women Illegally Removed. Are Doctors Saviours Or Murderers?

By Vineeta Chawla:

In a country where medical profession is thought to be a vocation and doctors are equaled to Gods, the incident of removal of uterus of 226 women in various hospitals of Jaipur City, Rajasthan has come as shocking news.

Any kind of treatment includes surgery as a last resort, especially in case of uterus treatment of women because the consequences of these operations can affect a person’s life forever. The normal treatment procedure includes hormonal treatment or D & C which is removal of diseased tissue by surgery. If these fail then the question of surgery might come up and even at this point there are many reconsiderations before operating. The age, health and side effects of the surgery and the medicines that have to be born later are crucial factors in deciding what kind of surgery can be done. Even during the surgery, the whole uterus is removed only in extreme cases, in fact this is a procedure that is not preferred in cancer patients.

This scam was revealed by an RTI filed by the NGO Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, working in Jaipur. It was revealed that in the duration of six months, March 2010 to September 2010, the hospitals operated on and removed the uterus of 226 women. The RTI was sent to five hospitals and only three replied. The three private hospitals situated in the Dhasa District are Madan Nursing Hospital, Sri Balaji Hospital and Vijay Hospital. These hospitals have been working under Janani Suraksha Yojna, a welfare scheme introduced by the state government for expectant mothers. It is being said that the hospitals gained from Rs 12000 to Rs 14000 per patient. The records of these hospitals have been seized and investigations are underfoot.

The consequences of such gory acts are very bad not only on the patients but also for the society as a whole. The image of doctors takes a hit and people often stop following the prescriptions of their doctors believing that their problem is being exaggerated. On a personal front, the patient who is operated upon has to suffer problems for life. This not only degrades the physical health of the patients but also tests their mental strength. In many cases these operations also bring down the woman’s position in the family.

After listening to such incidents would you follow any doctor’s advice for surgery?

Img: Screen grab from CNN IBN report (http://origin-www.ibnlive.com/news/rti-reveals-forced-hysterectomy-for-cash/149335-3.html)