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Sangli illegal abortions: police find 30-40 more cases
Hospital was on the authorities’ radar after a patient complained to the local authorities, through a non-governmental organisation, when their four-day-old baby died immediately after being shifted out from the hospital.
The Sangli-based hospital which is under investigation for illegal termination of pregnancies may have carried out 30-40 abortions, according to the local police. The police have also found a case from outside Sangli district, hinting an involvement of others in the racket.
“The one case the police found from outside Sangli was a pregnancy of 4.5 months,” said Vijay Kalam Patil, collector of Sangli. A second arrest was made in the case by Sangli police on Tuesday. The doctor was identified as Dr Vijaykumar Chougule, an anaesthetist, according to the Sangli police.
Earlier, the police had arrested Dr Rupali Chougule, a gynaecologist and wife of the arrested doctor. Vijaykumar was arrested early on Tuesday and remanded to police custody, while Dr Rupali Chougule was remanded to five days in police custody on Monday by a local court in Sangli.
The police are on a lookout for the third doctor in the case, Dr Swapnil Jamdade, who is also a relative of the Chougule couple. A case under Sections 4(b), 5(3), 5(4) of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 was registered at Sangli city police station on Friday night.
The case was registered after Dr Sanjay Kavthekar, medical officer of the municipal corporation, and Chandrakant Ashtekar from the civic health department sealed the hospital and lodged a complaint against the hospital for seven cases of MTP.
However, when asked if more cases were uncovered by the police, deputy superintendent of police Ashok Virkar said, “Yes, there are quite a few more cases that we have found paperwork for.” When asked the number of new cases, he said, “We see at least 30-40 more cases.”
The registration of their organisation, Chougule surgical and maternity hospital, was cancelled on Monday and a line of communication in that regard was initiated with the Indian Medical Association.
According to Kalam Patil, ”Since they are government doctors, we have written to the Medical Council of India to cancel their licence. We also held a meeting with the police to guide them in the investigation. Medical experts like the dean of civil hospital and health department members are helping in the investigation”.
The hospital was on the authorities’ radar after a patient complained to the local authorities, through a non-governmental organisation, when their four-day-old baby died immediately after being shifted out from the hospital.
