Odisha Doctor Triggers Outrage by Using Bicycle Pump for Sterilisation Surgeries

A Odisha doctor has triggered outrage after using a bicycle pump to inflate the abdomen of 56 women during sterilisation surgeries in Banarpal village and later defended himself by saying it is not a new technique.

In the sterilisation surgeries, Rout used a bicycle pump instead of insufflators to pump carbon dioxide into women's abdomen to maintain gas pressure. Insufflator is a medical equipment used to inflate the abdomen while performing laparoscopic tubectomy.

Defending himself for using a bicycle pump as an alternative, Rout said several doctors use it to perform surgeries in rural areas in the absence of adequate medical facilities.

He said several hospitals are still not equipped with insufflators and as a result, doctors are left with no other options, but to use bicycle pumps as alternative.

"I am not alone. Surgeons often use bicycle pump in the rural camps where the facility of an operation theatre and other sophisticated equipments are not available," Rout told IANS. "We sterilise the pipe and nozzle tip of the pump before use."

The incident has outraged the villagers of Banarpal and taking advantage of the situation, the Opposition party, BJP, declared a protest on Saturday. Party workers and women activists gathered in the village to protest against the doctor and ransacked the health centre where the camp was organised.

Following the protests, the government has ordered a probe into the incident and has asked the administrative chief of the concerned district to submit a report within a week.

On Friday, Rout conducted laparoscopic tubectomy on the women in a sterilisation camp at the government health care centre organised by local authorities of Banarpal village near Bhubaneswar.