Bihar: Doctors to pay Rs 3.51 crore for performing unwanted hysterectomies

CM Nitish Kumar however  reduced the amount of the said compensation to Rs 50,000, while directing the state home department officials to recover the amount from the accused doctors.

Earlier in the matter, the DM, heading the probe reported that the removal of uterus of the 703 women was not medically required to treat their ailments which were as trivial as abdomen pain. The said operations were conducted under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana initiated by the Centre in 2008, a scheme under which unorganised workers are provided with cashless health insurance cover. Private medical practitioners and hospitals across different districts of Bihar were paid insurance money of about Rs 1,500 to 2,000 each for 46,690 uterus removal surgeries in 2012, of which these 703 were found unwanted by probe.

The state health department as per the directions of  the CM has written to the district civil surgeons to identify the doctors from whom the compensation amount has to be recovered.

FIRs were also lodged against 13 doctors and 33 hospitals soon after the DM concluded their probe into the scam. However, no arrests were made as they either obtained bail or were reported as absconding in the police files.

The MCI on the other hand, has received suggestions from both the state government as well as the BHRC to cancel the registration of the accused doctors, to which the ethic's committee of the MCI is yet to respond.