By IANS,
Jaipur: The Rajasthan government’s medical and health department and its agents are duping and luring poor men into undergoing sterilisation to meet annual targets on such surgeries, NGO activists alleged Thursday.
Activist said that there were several complaints of men being sterilised after being taken to health centres by vasectomy agents under the pretext of medical check-up.
From April 2010 to February 2011, over 296,000 sterilisation operations were carried out in the state. This was 61.58 percent of the target set for fiscal 2010-11.
Two beggars – Ramu and Ayodhyadas – allegedly became the victims of this practice in Pali district recently.
“The vasectomy agents on the pretext of a minor medical check-up took them to a mass sterilization surgery camp. Both are beggars and have no family,” said Ritesh Sharma, associated with Mitra Foundation, a Jaipur-based NGO.
He alleged that sterilisation surgeries were being conducted in violation of norms that require a volunteer to be married.
“In the records, both were shown to be married and an address of the road where they live was provided. Before the surgery, they were promised Rs.1,100 each and a mobile phone set,” said Sharma.
“They never got the mobile handsets as per the promise and that is how the complaint reached us,” said Sharma.
In another incident, a 21-year-old unmarried man in Rajsamand district complained to the chief medical health officer (CMHO) that he was fraudulently made to undergo a sterilization surgery.
He alleged that his friend’s wife – a health department worker – took him to a health centre for treatment of a liver ailment but he was sterilised.
CMHO Rajsamand Mohan Dewara said the complaint was being investigated.
Family members of Tarachand, 30, a resident of Pali district, approached the authorities alleging that his friend Suresh, a government school employee, fraudulently made him undergo sterilization surgery.
“Suresh got my son drunk and made him undergo a contraception surgery in a semi-conscious state at a hospital,” alleged Tarachand’s father Keshoram.
Sharma told IANS that “to earn Rs.200 as commission for bringing a sterilization volunteer to a government-organised camp, vasectomy agents are duping poor people”.
“The medical and health department has given notices to chief medical and health officers of all districts to meet the targets of conducting a stipulated number of surgeries by March-end,” he said.
Mahitosh Bagoria, associated with NGO Hedcon, said: “We also have come to know about these complaints. The government should look into these at the earliest.”
“We have heard about some complaints. We have asked our officials to look into them and report to us,” said a senior official of medical and health department.