Surgeon sedates patients, goes for 4-hour 'tea break'

NAGPUR: There were tense moments last week at a government-aided tubectomy camp held at Khat village, 40km off Nagpur, when four women in a makeshift operation theatre were left sedated and unattended for at least four hours, after the surgeon administered anaesthesia and left for a long "tea break".

He returned to the primary health centre (PHC), where the camp was organised, at 7pm after restive villagers alerted district officials and the surgeon, Dr Bhalavi, was summoned. The doctor is attached to a rural hospital in Parseoni and was assigned to the camp, 50km away.

On Tuesday, an inquiry team reached the PHC and recorded statements of the staff and the surgeon, who claimed he was diabetic and went out for tea after a hypoglycemic attack.

Locals claimed the doctor displayed uneasiness and drove off to Nagpur, leaving patients in the lurch. "The surgeon left at 2.30pm and returned at night to complete the operations," said Tushar Kunjekar, a resident of Khat.

Eight surgeries, including seven tubectomies and one vasectomy, were scheduled at the camp on November 3. The public health department regularly holds camps at PHCs under the central government's flagship family planning programme.

The district health officer, Dr Ajay Dawle, set up a three-member probe panel after the incident. "All eight operations were successful. A thorough inquiry will reveal facts," he said, without divulging details. He also didn't clarify if the same surgeon completed the remaining four operations.

A top health official said Dr Bhalavi is a diabetes patient. "He was feeling uneasy after performing four operations and asked for tea, which the PHC staff could not provide. He is likely to have suffered from hypoglycemia," the official said.

Each family planning operation takes about 30 minutes, including sedation, local anaesthesia and sterilization. PHCs generally have an arrangement for two OT tables and two beneficiaries are operated upon at a time.

The official denied reports that "other doctors" had to step in after the surgeon left, and said: "Accredited tubectomy surgeons are not available easily. The same doctor returned to complete the day's work."