Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday demanded a CBI probe into the alleged “uterus scam” in the state.
Paswan, who termed the scam “a state-sponsored murder of children”, said he would raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha. He has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding this while alleging that the Nitish Kumar government had full information about the scam and yet refused to act on it.
Under the National Health Insurance Scheme for BPL families, a sum of Rs 30,000 is earmarked for treatment in government-approved hospitals and nursing homes. The matter surfaced in July when the RJD alleged that the insurance scheme was misused and thousands of women have had their uterus removed with an active connivance of unscrupulous touts and doctors. The party leaders alleged that even unmarried girls were forced to go under the knives.
Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Assembly during its monsoon session that 16,765 cases of premature termination of pregnancy and hysterectomies took place in 11 districts between April 2011 and June 2012.
The highest number was recorded in Samastipur (5,503). However, Choubey denied any “irregularities”. Amid protests from various parties, Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary directed the state government to submit him a report on the issue. However, the health department has remained silence on the issue.
A senior health department official said that the matter was still under scrutiny. “There may have been financial irregularities of withdrawing funds under the scheme in a fraudulent manner and without an operation but it is unlikely that uteruses have been removed forcefully,” he said. He added that the department had investigated cases in Samastipur and not a single woman told them that their uterus had been removed forcefully. Even government officials said that the scheme has resulted into nursing homes, doctors, tout and even BPL families withdrawing money fraudulently. “Most of the nursing homes do not even facilities like pathological lab or an ultra sound,” an official said.
In Saran district, over 1,800 such cases have surfaced. District magistrate Vinay Kumar has ordered a probe under sub-divisional magistrate Vinay Pandey. One Rinku Kumari (25) of Khalpura Kamla village had gone to a doctor as she had developed pain in the stomach. The doctor diagnosed stone in her gall bladder and she went to Deotara Hospital where her uterus was allegedly removed. Though she is a mother of two, she feels deceived at the turn of events.
More than 1,800 such women face this kind of situation. Even if they go for delivery, the uterus is removed after the operation. DM Vinay Kumar told that each of the victim would be questioned on the treatment at the respective hospital.
Civil surgeon Vinay Kumar Yadav said that uterus removal becomes necessary only when cancerous growth is found. Otherwise, removal of uterus on the pretext of threat of cancer amounts to criminal offence. An inquiry team has been constituted and the persons responsible for this kind of act would not be spared, he added.
