In a shocking incident, doctors in a Chhattisgarh district performed sterilisation surgery on a woman belonging to the endangered Pahadi Korba tribe, ignoring the restrictions imposed by the government on the family planning of the indigenous group due to its declining population, official sources disclosed here on Sunday.
Ironically, the woman had undergone the surgery twice in the last seven years and on both occasions, the surgeries failed leading to her pregnancies.
Upset over the disturbing development, state health minister Amar Agrawal on Sunday ordered a probe into the incident and stringent action against the erring doctors and officials.
Official reports reaching here said Bastanti Bai, 40, a resident of tribal village of Lamadaraha in Jashpur district, had undergone sterilisation five years ago at the Bagicha community health centre in the district under the national family planning scheme. She had three children then.
A few months after the surgery, she conceived again and gave birth to twins. She again underwent a family planning operation few months back but again conceived and gave birth to twins one more time. The tribe, listed as most backward indigenous group, has prohibited its couples from going for family planning.
However, Basanti and her husband Pancharam Korba had defied the tradition by deciding to go for small family due to acute poverty.
Pancharam has reported the matter to the local administration seeking financial assistance to support his family of nine, including seven children, official sources said.
The tribe, having a total population of 33,379 (2001 census), is found in three districts of Jashpur, Korba and Sarguja in Chhattisgarh.
The President of India has adopted the tribe to give special attention for their socio-economic development to arrest their declining population.