Incision blade breaks, gets stuck in Rajasthan woman’s abdomen in sterilization camp

The family of a 25-year-old woman has accused doctors at a government health centre in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district of medical negligence after an incision blade broke and was lodged in her abdomen during a surgery at a mass sterilization camp on Wednesday.

Meena Devi from Adhiya Ka Nagla village under Kumher sub-division was sent to Raj Bahadur Memorial Hospital in Bharatpur town after the botched surgery. She was then referred to Sawai Man Singh Hospital in state capital Jaipur after the doctors at the Bharatpur hospital failed to remove the blade.

Devi’s family said she was taken to the Community Health Centre (CHC) of Kumher on Wednesday morning to the sterilization camp.

“My daughter-in-law Devi has two daughters and a son and decided to go for sterilization. A health worker at the Anganwadi Manju Devi suggested her to get sterilisation done after which she came to Kumher CHC,” Devi’s father-in-law Vijendra Singh said.

“At the sterilisation camp, doctors were negligent and left the blade in her stomach. We want legal action against accused doctors,” Singh said.

Dr Sahav Singh Meena, the in-charge of centre, had organised the sterilisation camp and was conducting the procedure. Dr Meena said on his part that a piece of the blade broke during incision on Devi’s stomach as she jumped and a piece was stuck in her abdomen.

“We tried to remove it but did not succeed on which she was referred to the district hospital,” Dr Meena said.

Eighteen women were admitted to the sterilization camp, where 17 were successfully operated upon.

Bharatpur’s chief medical and health officer Dr Gopal Sharma said action will be taken against the accused doctor after an investigation into the incident.

Such camps are held regularly by the government as part of its long-running effort to control population growth. More than a dozen women died in Chhattisgarh in 2014 during surgery in a sterilization camp due to poor management by local authorities and unhygienic conditions, dirty medical instruments and equipment.