Indian police have arrested the owners of two pharmaceutical factories as part of the investigation into the deaths of 15 woman after sterilization surgery. The doctor who conducted the surgery has also been detained. He denies negligence, saying the medicine administered may have been faulty. Their cause of death remains unclear. The surgeries were part of a state run mass sterilization campaign.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30049221
Medicine being administered in India should be highly supervised, especially after an incident like this. What measures should be put in place to control medicine to make sure this doesnt happen again?
Should the government be able to supervise and control medicine and administration?
This should definately be looked into. If you follow the link to the article and read more into the 'why?' of this sterilization you can be brought to an article about the women in India going to a "sterilization camp"
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-29999883 Eleven Indian women have died after undergoing sterilization surgery at a health camp organised by the government in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The tubectomy operations were carried out on 83 women in just six hours. Officials have denied negligence, but questions are being asked whether India's population control policy has serious flaws.
I am unaware of the time requirement for this opperation, but 6 hours to preform this operation 83 times? Something is bound to go wrong, there is not enough time being allotted for safety precautions. This "Sterilization" seems to be a very common cause of death for Indian women.
-- Edited by kristina chaney on Monday 17th of November 2014 06:58:54 PM
The government should have some sort of supervision or policy so that things like this do not happen. I'm just not sure to what extent. As to if the doctor did it; i'm not sure. There is an incentive there but im not sure how strong it is.
I find that if the government isn't taking action against these kinds situations, they need to make changes to their policies. If the doctor doesn't understand these policies, then he should be removed from his position.
Obviously the govt should monitor and control medicine and administration to a certain extent if many people undergo surgeries. These deaths, while suspicious in numbers, could have been done due to faulty medicine. I'm doubtful that a doctor would have killed all those women in the same kind of surgery since he is supposed to be knowledgeable and qualified.
There should be government supervision on medicine factories. Medicine is, in a remote way, like food. If you eat one, you die. If you eat the other, you gain 50 pounds. In America we have inspectors who check the processes by which the food is handle prepared, packaged, etc. A system to check the medicine being produced and handled would greatly increase the quality and effectiveness of medicines in India. The doctor is partly at fault because he should have knowledge over the operation and medications being used in the procedure he was conducting. Obviously, his efforts resulted in 15 unjustified deaths. That is no small crime, and he should answer for his misinformed actions.
India has been making big strides as a country, but obviously there is a lot more that needs to be fixed there. Their people are still often separated in the age old caste system and poverty is still widespread. There is a lot of potential for their newly elected leadership to fix this. The doctor should be investigated for possible negligence.
