Botched sterilisations: Rahul Gandhi heads to Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi will visit Pendari village in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh tomorrow, where botched sterilisation surgeries have left 13 women dead.

Sources said that Gandhi will be meeting the family members of the victims and also take stock of the corrective measures being taken by the state government.

The Chhattisgarh government has constituted a probe panel under a retired judge to investigate the botched surgeries at Bilaspur's government-run medical camps which have so far left 13 young women dead while nearly 138 others have been taken ill.

Congress has demanded the resignation of the state's health minister over the affair.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had yesterday announced the setting up of a "transparent and unbiased" judicial probe into the tragedy while accusing Congress of trying to politicise the issue.

The terms of reference of the probe include ascertaining the quality of medicines and equipment used and whether the standard protocol for performance of such surgeries was followed for the sterilisation procedure. It will also fix accountability and recommend measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents.