BILASPUR, India, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- At least eight women are dead and 68 have been hospitalized after a surgeon in India used infected tools to perform 83 sterilization surgeries in six hours. Due to it's enormous population India offers financial incentives for married couples who chose not to have children, but medical guidelines prohibit surgeons from performing more than 30 sterilizations in a day.
The 83 women were sent to their homes in the central state of Chhattisgarh following the procedure, where they quickly suffered from "drop[s] in pulse, vomiting and other ailments" according to local commissioner Sonmani Borah.
"This is an exceptional case which unfortunately happens once every four or five years," Abhijeet Phatak, medical program specialist with International Planned Parenthood in New Delhi, explained to Bloomberg.
"The fault lies with the person who did not disinfect the equipment on a day when 80 or 90 women are being sterilized. But also the strategy of having one-day camps for sterilization is to blame and should be reconsidered."
"Chhattisgarh was a culmination of no accountability in the system and when basic hygiene conditions aren't met," added Kerry McBroom, director of the Reproductive Rights Initiative at the New Delhi-based Human Rights Law Network.
"The most appalling and terrifying thing is that it's so commonplace in India for women to suffer these surgeries [under poor conditions]."
