This story is from November 24, 2016

4 yrs on, MCI yet to take action against 'uterus scam' accused

Four years after the uterus of at least 703 women was removed by doctors in Bihar to siphon off surgery reimbursements under a central health insurance scheme for poor families, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is yet to take action against a single doctor. This is despite the Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) writing to the MCI in April this year to punish the medical professionals involved in the 'uterus scam'.
4 yrs on, MCI yet to take action against 'uterus scam' accused
PATNA: Four years after the uterus of at least 703 women was removed by doctors in Bihar to siphon off surgery reimbursements under a central health insurance scheme for poor families, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is yet to take action against a single doctor. This is despite the Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) writing to the MCI in April this year to punish the medical professionals involved in the 'uterus scam'.
As directed by the BHRC, the state government had lodged FIRs against 33 empanelled hospitals and 13 doctors.
But the doctors continue to practice and the hospitals remain functional with not a single person punished yet.
In Samastipur district, where the government probe identified 316 unwarranted surgeries to remove uteruses and in Saran district, FIRs were lodged in 2013, less than a year after the scam was unearthed. Several district magistrates who had conducted the inquiries had written to the MCI to cancel the registration of doctors. Terming the doctors' conduct as "barbaric" and "criminal", the BHRC sent a copy of its order to the MCI, directing it to inquire and punish the guilty. No one has been arrested as the accused have either procured bail or are shown "absconding" in police files .
"We will look into the matter," said Dr Rajiva Ranjan, a member of the MCI's national ethics committee, when TOI reached him in May and September this year. Earlier this month, he said the committee was likely to take up the matter at its meeting in Delhi on November 9. Sources said the committee did meet on November 9 but the uterus scam was not discussed .
The uterus scam also included 123 surgeries that were not performed at all. At least two such beneficiaries in Arwal district were found to be males while quite a few were not found at the addresses provided. Across several districts in Bihar, women who had complained of petty problems like pain in stomach had their doctors persuading them to get their uteruses removed and pocketing the insurance money for the surgeries from the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.

According to official sources, RSBY reimbursements up to Rs 2,000 were paid per surgery for about 46,690 uterus removal surgeries in 2012. At the BHRC's behest, the Bihar government through its DMs could probe only 19,179 (just 41% of the cases). This limited probe found that the uterus was unnecessarily removed in 703 women, including one who was not even 20 years old. Of these, at least 103 'victims' were in the reproductive age group of 20-30 years and 288 others were between 30 to 40 years old.
The rights committee directed the state in April this year to pay compensation to the victims- Rs 2.5 lakh each to those in the age group of 20-40 years and Rs 1.5 lakh each to the others. Seven months on, not a single paise has been disbursed. "The state government has decided to pay Rs 50,000 to every woman," state health department's OSD Shankar Prasad told TOI . "After the MCI's national ethics committee issues show-cause notices to the doctors concerned and studies their replies, it may ask the Bihar Registration of Medical Council (BRMC, or the state counterpart of MCI) to conduct hearings and take a final call," said committee member Dr Ranjan, a Bihar native.
Seeking action against the guilty in the uterus scam, the Veterans' Forum for Transparency filed a PIL in the Patna HC in July 2015. The court disposed of the matter in September this year as the state government assured it of action against the officials responsible and, ironically, petitioner's counsel Dinu Kumar "inadvertently" informed the court that the MCI had cancelled the registration of the doctors. "Having realised our mistake, we are ready with a fresh petition. We will move the HC again," Dinu said.
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