Ibrahimpatnam family planning surgery: TS Guv visits 11 women at NIMS

Hyderabad: Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan met all the 11 women who underwent family planning operations at the government hospital in Ibrahimpatnam and are now undergoing treatment at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

These women have been kept under observation after four women died 48 hours after the family planning operation. Suspecting infection, the other women were brought to the multi-specialty hospital in the city to control any complications after the surgery.

In a communication to the press on 4 September, Governor Dr. Soundararajan said, "I was deeply distracted by the unfortunate post-surgery complications and have visited the patients at NIMS to give them my moral support. As a doctor, I was moved after seeing their pathetic condition. Each of the patients is under tremendous distress and shock. All of them are from economically weaker sections."

The Governor has sanctioned Rs. 10,000 financial assistance to the 11 patients undergoing treatment at NIMS from the discretionary grants.

Demand for suspension of DPH

BJP senior leader Prof. Dasoju Srravan demanded the suspension of the director of public health Dr. Srinivas Rao. In a tweet, he said, "Glaring negligence has been witnessed where four women died purely because of the negligence of doctors."

The director of public health, Dr. Srinivas Rao, is in the eye of the storm as a section of government doctors have been demanding his ouster for a long time. They have time and again said that the post of director must be given to seniors in government service.

Pressure to conduct family planning operations

The state government, during its review meetings, has asked the district medical and health officials to conduct family planning camps. The ANM (Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery) and ASHA workers motivate women who have more than two children to opt for family planning operations. These women are usually from lower middle class.

The botched operations have led to public outrage and the nursing staff and other health workers at the ground level are facing a lot of heat. The death of the four young women has created doubt in the government healthcare system.

A senior doctor explained, "The manner in which these camps are organised is not correct. Trained and experienced staff is required to handle so many women and it requires management of both human resources and equipment."

Word of mouth works at the lower level

The botched operations have left a negative impression on the lower section of the society who are not willing to take the word of their healthcare workers. This can have a long-term impact as these healthcare workers form a strong network in connecting them to organised government healthcare centres.