RANEBENNUR (HAVERI): In six years, Dr Shant Pandannar removed uteruses of 1,520 women in his capacity as a general surgeon in a government hospital here. The allegation is that most of the surgeries were unnecessary. But what was startling was the state health minister K R Ramesh Kumar’s recent admission in assembly that even the government couldn’t ensure Dr Pandannar’s suspension.
However, the doctor is currently under suspension, but does not stand to lose his medical licence as the charges against him are under the Prevention of Corruption Act only.
An Express investigation has revealed the farcical probe carried out by the administration into the hysterectomies and the painful after-effects that continue to afflict women in villages around Ranebennur.
Chennamma, 33, of Kakola thanda (hamlet), 14km from Ranebennur, vividly remembers the day she consulted Dr Pandannar. She was 28 then and had gone with a stomach pain. She was asked to take an ultrasound scan. “The doctor saw the reports and said if I didn’t have my uterus removed that day, I would die,” she recalls. She was on the operating table by 3pm. This was the ruse used for most women who underwent the hysterectomies, the victims allege.
Last June, a six-member team headed by Haveri’s reproductive and child health officer was asked to speak to 20 of these women. The inquiry report was submitted but not a single woman was spoken to. The report said the complainants never turned up. The fact is, they were never asked to turn up.
Six months later, on January 26 this year, an FIR was filed by the present district health officer of Haveri, Dr Mahesh Baddi. Here too, the complaint did not ask police to investigate the alleged unwarranted hysterectomies. There is no mention of alleged medical negligence either.
Ranebennur DySP A S Bhumareddy, who is investigating the case, told Express, “The mention of hysterectomies is there in reports, various correspondences and petitions given by the victims. In the days to come, we will summon those women who have alleged unwarranted hysterectomies. Based on what DHO has written in the complaint we could only add PC Act.”