Health Ministry directs states to put restrictions on hysterectomy surgery

In a recent notification, the Ministry of Health clarified that the state should put a stop to the surgery to remove the uterus without any reason. The Ministry has also written a letter to state governments, asking them to become stricter on increasing cases of hysterectomy.

Hysterectomy surgery in women is also called uterus removal or uterus removal surgery in common language.

The letter was issued by the health ministry after an increase in the number of hysterectomy cases in India was reported. All states have been asked to audit hysterectomy surgeries.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to states, informing them that some medical institutions in India are performing unnecessary hysterectomy surgeries. He directed the states to share the data of such surgeries in their respective areas. The government had recently issued guidelines regarding uterus removal. States have been asked to share data before and after the guidelines were issued.

In 2013, a physician named Narendra Saxena filed a PIL in the Supreme Court in this regard, which claimed that in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, there are many cases of hysterectomy among poor and Dalit women who do not really need this surgery. The PIL said that these women's ailments could have been treated without surgeries. But many institutions, in their greed to get the insurance amount available under the National Health Insurance Scheme, are performing these surgeries.

Through an RTI, Saxena also obtained hysterectomy surgery data performed between April 2010 and October 2010. He proved through data that out of a total of 385 surgeries in the Dausa district of Rajasthan during this period, 286 were done in only three private hospitals.

In a decision on April 10, 2023, the Supreme Court said that all the states should follow the guidelines set by the Central Government. The guidelines said that if a woman under 40 goes through surgery, her case should be reported to the state government. The Supreme Court directed the Centre and states to ensure that all states and union territories follow these guidelines.

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