Botched sterilization: Chattisgarh minister may be divested of health portfolio

RAIPUR: Amid strong indignation over sterilization tragedy that claimed 13 lives and maimed several other women in Chhattisgarh, there are indications that senior minister Amar Agrawal could be divested of his health portfolio very soon.
Ruling BJP sources said the party central leadership is annoyed as the sterilization deaths, at a government run health camp in Takhatpur, has snowballed into a major controversy that has also grabbed international attention.Besides, TV footages of state minister ‘laughing and smiling’ did not go well with the party leadership, which apparently feel that the tragedy has tarnished BJP’s image as a whole.
“Of course, BJP government’s image has suffered a beating. It’s for the BJP central leadership to take a call on whether the minister would be asked to resign or to shift his department”, a senior BJP functionary told TOI.
Opposition Congress, which had given a call for state wide bandh on Wednesday protesting against sterilisation deaths, has demanded resignation of chief minister Raman Singh and health minister Amar Agrawal.
“Peoples’ sentiments are against the BJP government. They are agitated over frequent incidents of botched up surgeries. First it was people losing eye sight after a health camp at Bagbehra, then came the uterus scandal in which unscrupulous doctors performed unwanted hysterectomy on gullible rural women to swindle insurance money”, state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said.
He said later there were large number of deaths due to jaundice in the state capital and now it has been followed by sudden deaths of women underwent tubectomy at government run health camps.
Veteran Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Chhitaranjan Bakshi said “It’s the outcome of a deep rooted corruption regime. When eye operations were botched up, it also turned out that medicines used were either spurious or sub-standard”.