India's sterilisation deaths

Published November 15, 2014
5.	A relative of a woman who underwent sterilisation surgery at a government mass sterilisation camp sleeps outside a hospital ward at Bilaspur district in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh, November 15, 2014. — Reuters
5. A relative of a woman who underwent sterilisation surgery at a government mass sterilisation camp sleeps outside a hospital ward at Bilaspur district in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh, November 15, 2014. — Reuters
1.	A plate of food is pictured on the bed of a woman who underwent sterilisation surgery at a government mass sterilisation camp, as she rests inside a hospital at Bilaspur district in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh November 15, 2014. — Reuters
1. A plate of food is pictured on the bed of a woman who underwent sterilisation surgery at a government mass sterilisation camp, as she rests inside a hospital at Bilaspur district in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh November 15, 2014. — Reuters
3.	A relative of Phool Bai Srivastava, who died after undergoing a mass sterilisation operation in a government-run programme, holds her surviving child Nitesh at their residence in Amsena village, about 20 kilometres from Bilaspur on November 15, 2014. — AFP
3. A relative of Phool Bai Srivastava, who died after undergoing a mass sterilisation operation in a government-run programme, holds her surviving child Nitesh at their residence in Amsena village, about 20 kilometres from Bilaspur on November 15, 2014. — AFP
4.	Indian patient Ketaki Bai, 28, who suffered from complications that also killed 13 women after undergoing mass sterilisation in a government-run programme, reacts while at a ward at the district hospital in Bilaspur on November 15, 2014. — AFP
4. Indian patient Ketaki Bai, 28, who suffered from complications that also killed 13 women after undergoing mass sterilisation in a government-run programme, reacts while at a ward at the district hospital in Bilaspur on November 15, 2014. — AFP
2.	A relative of Phool Bai Srivastava, who died after undergoing a mass sterilisation operation in a government-run programme, holds her surviving child Nitesh at their residence in Amsena village, about 20 kilometres from Bilaspur on November 15, 2014. — AFP
2. A relative of Phool Bai Srivastava, who died after undergoing a mass sterilisation operation in a government-run programme, holds her surviving child Nitesh at their residence in Amsena village, about 20 kilometres from Bilaspur on November 15, 2014. — AFP

Tablets linked to the deaths of more than a dozen women who visited a sterilisation camp in India are likely to have contained a chemical compound commonly used in rat poison, two senior officials in Chhattisgarh state said on Saturday.

Preliminary tests of the antibiotic ciprocin tablets were found to contain zinc phosphide, Siddhartha Pardeshi, the chief administrator for the Bilaspur district, told Reuters.

The antibiotics were handed out at the mass sterilisation held a week ago in the impoverished state. At least 15 women have died, most of whom had attended the camp. — Reuters

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