Women who underwent sterilization surgeries receive treatment at the CIMS hospital (Press Trust of India)
Three weeks before the deaths in Chhattisgarh after mass sterilization surgeries believed to be driven by targets, the central government had, in a letter, said that compensation would be doubled for men and women who agree to these surgeries.
NDTV has accessed the health ministry's letter on October 20 to 11 "high focus states" including Chhattisgarh, which begins by stressing on the "importance of performance in sterilization" and says that financial incentives will be increased in step with the rising cost of living.
The Centre said that men who go for sterilization surgery under the government's family planning programme will be given Rs 2,000 instead of Rs 1,100. For women, the amount would be hiked from Rs 600 to Rs 1,400.
Eleven women have died and many more are in hospitals after botched sterilization surgeries at a free state-run camp in Bilaspur on Saturday. Such camps are routinely held as part of India's attempts to control its billion-plus population.
An FIR or police complaint has been filed against the doctor, RK Gupta, who allegedly operated on 83 women in five hours that day with the help of one assistant at an abandoned hospital that has not treated any patients since April.
Two health officials suspended for fatal negligence have gone on record to say that they had targets to meet. "In April to March there are annual targets, this was done according to that," said RK Bhamge. Block Medical Officer Pramod Tiwari admitted, "The daily target of a team is 40 sterilizations, but the number of operations held on Saturday was double that figure."
The Centre's letter lists a chain of beneficiaries who are given incentives to join the sterilization drives. Besides the people who agree to the surgeries, the government pays the "motivator" Rs 150 a person, the surgeon Rs 75 and a nurse Rs 15.
To many critics, including medical experts and politicians, the sterilization surgery exemplifies an inhuman programme that relies on targets, inducement and coercion.