The death of 13 women after botched sterilization operations at a camp in Chhattisgarh is the result of "wrong policies and practices in the area of family planning services", said a coalition of women's rights group Thursday.
"This tragedy raises grave questions about the unsafe, and unhygienic conditions, and the slipshod attitude under which these operations were conducted," said Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a network of women health group and other organisations in a statement.
It said the surgeries conducted were in complete violation of the Supreme Court orders which "instruct that a maximum of 30 operations can be conducted in a day with 2 separate laparoscopes only in government facilities".
"Despite this, the surgeon in Chhattisgarh performed about three times the permissible number of surgeries (83) in less than 6 hours in a private hospital which had reportedly remained closed for 15 years," the statement added.
