Jaipur, April 16
Three hospitals in Rajasthan removed the uteruses of 226 women for “unnecessary and designed for monetary benefits”, an RTI report has revealed. The administration has suspended the recognition of the hospitals in Bandikui town in Dausa and ordered a probe into the incident.

NGO Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat, which filed the RTI application, said that the hospitals earned about Rs 14,000 per surgery and consequently removed the uterus of 226 of the 385 women patients who visited the hospitals from March to September last year. NGO general secretary Durga Prasad said that the doctors did the surgery even when not necessary. One of the women, who underwent the surgery but did not wish to be identified, said: “I went to the hospital with a constant stomach ache. They removed by uterus, but the pain did not go. Then I went to Jaipur for treatment and it was found out that I had been wrongly operated upon.”

The probe team to be led by Dausa Chief Medical and Health Officer OP Meena said: “We have seized the records of five hospitals and the process to record statements of the women and doctors is on.” Doctors and the management of the hospitals have rejected the charges. “The percentage of uterus removal (hysterectomy) is about 20-25 per cent only,” Dr Rajesh Dhakad, owner of Madhur Hospital, told PTI. “The NGO is misrepresenting the figures,” he said.

Dr Sunil Katta of Katta Hospital said the uterus was removed only where necessary. Another surgeon and owner of Balaji Hospital, Dr Santosh Dube said the hospitals charged Rs 7,000-8,000 for the uterus removal operation and that the Rs 14,000 figure was not true. — PTI