A doctor has been arrested in India following the deaths of at least 12 women who underwent surgery as part of a government-run sterilisation programme, a senior medical official said.
The cause of the deaths was not immediately clear, but officials said the victims showed signs of toxic shock, possibly because of dirty surgical equipment or contaminated medicines.
The number of women who have died following operations by a medical team using unsanitary surgical equipment at a mass-sterilisation camp in India has risen to 13.
The women, among more than 80 to undergo surgery, fell ill at a so-called family planning camp at a village in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday. Such camps are held regularly in India as part of a long-running effort to control its booming population.
The cause of the deaths was not immediately clear, but officials said the victims showed signs of toxic shock, possibly because of dirty surgical equipment or contaminated medicines.
Senior local government official Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi told Reuters:
Dr RK Gupta has said his supply of post-op drugs was contaminated after being arrested for the deaths of 13 women in a mass sterilisation.
Women who survived a botched mass sterilisation in India which left 12 others dead have told ITV News what they think went wrong.
Eleven women have been killed and others are in a critical condition in India after sterilisation operations were apparently botched.