Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Friday assured all possible assistance to the Chhattisgarh Government to tackle the sterilization tragedy that claimed the lives of 13 women in Bilaspur.
"The Centre will provide all required assistance to Chhattisgarh Government upon its request. They have declared of a judicial enquiry and in terms of providing technical support and the angle to find out about health facilities will be supported by the Centre," Nadda told the media persons here.
"Also want to make one thing clear, sterilization program is demand driven and is a promotional programme and not target driven," he added.
The Union Health Minister further said the Centre had sent a team of doctors from AIIMS to supervise the medical treatment to the affected patients.
"Those doctors, who were sent from AIIMS, were not there as part of any probing committee. The seven -member team of top doctors from AIIMS was sent on the basis of request of Chhattisgarh Government," he said.
"They saw the patients there and gave their guidance as to what kind of treatment should be provided. From the Chhattisgarh Government, we have received information that the patients have benefitted from the guidelines given by the team who visited them," he added.
The sterilization tragedy has claimed 13 lives, with more than 50 women, who were left in a critical state, presently undergoing treatment at four different hospitals in Bilaspur. The state government has ordered an investigation into the incident and announced a compensation of Rs. two lakh to the kin of each of the victims.
