Sterilised woman becomes pregnant, seeks damage

BHUBANESWAR: In a curious case, a woman of Khurda who had undergone a family planning operation in a State Government medical camp eight years back has become pregnant and slapped a case against the Health Department seeking damage.  Manjulata Mania, a resident of Khurda’s Deauli village, has made a damage claim of Rs 5 lakh from the Government for negligent family planning operation. The woman stated, in her notice, that she had to give birth to an “unexpected fourth child” because of the negligence of the government doctors and must be compensated for the same. The woman’s husband is a daily wage labour and belongs to the Below the Poverty Line category.  Manjulata had under gone a family planning sterilisation operation on February 14 in 2003 in a medical camp conducted by the Medical Officer of Khurda District. Since she already had three children, she and her husband had decided to go in for tubectomy. After the surgery was conducted, she was told by the doctor as well as Khurda districts’ medical staffs that the operation has become successful and she will never get pregnant in future.   However, she was unaware that she was in for some testing times ahead. Earlier this year, Manjulata felt a growth in her womb. She went to Khurda District Hospital for check-up but when the doctors came to know that she had undergone a family planning operation - which creates no doubt about further pregnancy - she was advised to go to a better hospital in Bhubaneswar for a thorough checkup.  In March, she got herself checked at Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital where the doctors opined that Manjulata had a 19 week and 3 days old single live intrauterine foetus. “Shocked, she wanted to abort the child but since it could prove hazardous for her life, she was compelled to deliver the baby,” Manjulata’s advocate Silabhadra Sastry said.   Stating that rearing of the child will necessitate huge cost, she has sought Rs 5 lakh as damage from the Government. If the Government failed to pay within 60 days, the Government, medical officer of the community health centre, chief medical officer and the surgeon will be sued.