Doctor arrested for Bilaspur sterilisation deaths

The doctor who conducted 83 sterilisation surgeries at the government-organised family planning camp in Pendhari area of Bilaspur, has been arrested from Chhattisgarh’s Balodabajar district.

R.K.Gupta had allegedly conducted 83 surgeries in five hours on November 8, 2014 after which, within a few hours, 12 women died and more than 60 had to be admitted to the hospital.

However, Dr. Gupta claimed that he was “innocent” and his superiors were making him “scapegoat”.

“I am alone being blamed for the deaths, which is incorrect. They should arrest the Chief Medical Officer of Bilaspur and District Health Officer. They should also be charged with the same provisions of law under which they have charged me,” Dr.Gupta told reporters after his arrest.

On the allegations of “criminal negligence” against him, Dr. Gupta pleaded innocence.

“The operations were conducted properly by following the standard procedure. The patients took ill after being given the medicines which seem to be outdated. Had they been given proper medicines, this incident would not have happened,” the doctor, who was once honoured by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh for “maximum number of family planning operations”, told the media.

When asked if he did not check the medicines before they were given to the patients, Dr. Gupta said, “How can I examine the medicine just by looking at it? There are other methods through which the medicines should have been examined before being given to the women who underwent surgery.”

Accusing the government and his superiors of making him a “scapegoat”, Dr. Gupta claimed that he was being wrongly implicated for “wrong policies” of the government.