Doctor scared us, we went under knife, say Ranebennur women
RANEBENNUR (HAVERI): About 300 km northwest of Bengaluru, Ranebennur town, with a population of over a lakh, thrives on labour-intensive activities like agriculture and spinning cotton yarn.
There are around 19 thandas (hamlets) near Ranebennur along National Highway-4. Of the 1,520 women who underwent hysterectomies in the general hospital under Dr Shant Pandannar, 70-80 per cent women live in thandas. They toil in the fields, factories and construction sites to eke out a living.
The only government hospitals are the Ranebennur Taluk General Hospital and a maternity home that cater to all women, be it deliveries or small and major ailments. The women expected relief from the surgery, but are now living in pain and fear for their lives and future.
These women complain of the debilitating after-effects of hysterectomies. They feel endless fatigue, back pain and body pain. They can’t perform the hard physical labour they once used to and it has cost them their livelihood. Many are also trapped in a vicious debt trap as they have mortgaged land and gold to pay for medical treatment. They want compensation from the government and the doctor to be put behind bars.
‘Operate in a day or you’ll die’
A 14-km drive from Ranebennur on the national highway leads one to Kakola thanda. Chennamma (33) lives here with two teenaged children in her asbestos sheet-roofed house. She got her uterus removed when she was 28.
“I had gone to the general hospital with stomach pain at noon that day. Dr Shant asked me to get an ultrasound scan done outside. When I brought the reports, he said my uterus was causing a threat to my life and if I didn’t get operated that day, I’d die. I told him there was no chance of me acquiring an infection as I hadn’t even got the family planning operation done. By 3 pm, I was on the operating table,” she said.
“He prescribed medicines worth Rs 15,000. One painkiller injection was priced at Rs 5,000. It did not give me any relief. I had even been to Hema Patil Hospital, but they did not say I need to get my uterus removed,” she added, breaking down.
Chennamma’s daughter studies in a private school and her son in a government school. “My husband earns Rs 5,000 per month. If I work for a day, I’m on the bed for two days. I am of no help to him. The pain is killing me. I feel like committing suicide. The doctor says women from the Lambani community do activities that are not advisable after surgery. He asks us not to lift weights. I can’t even draw water from the well now. How can I live like this?” she asks.
For Gowramma (26), it has already been seven years since she got her uterus removed. She got the surgery done at just 19, when she already had a one-year-old child and an 8-month-old toddler. “It had only been three years since marriage. I was still breastfeeding my second child. When I was told to get the operation done by Dr Pandannar, I told him I’ll get it done once my baby stops feeding. He said if I don’t get operated, I’d die,” she said. Gowramma pledged her gold ‘thali’ to pay for the medicines.
Almost every woman Express spoke to said that their age has been misquoted in the discharge summary. The women are armed with discharge summaries, medical bills, ultrasound scans and previous medical records from private hospitals.
Lakshmi Ramesh (now 25) was 22 when operated upon. Her discharge summary, however, says she was 48. The women allege that the doctor had instructed them not to reveal their actual age if anyone enquired.
Doctor never took money directly
The women said that Dr Pandannar never took money directly from them. They always paid money at Someshwara Medicals, a shop right opposite the hospital, in exchange for drugs and consumables for the surgery, which they suspect were never used for the operation.
None of these surgeries were performed with the consultation of a gynaecologist. It is not that a general surgeon cannot perform hysterectomy, but the fact that one doctor performed 1,520 hysterectomies without getting a gynaecological opinion raises suspicion.
Where are discharge summaries?
As many as 45 women underwent hysterectomies in Baslikatte thanda and at least 10 patients have no discharge summaries. Mallesh, a construction worker whose 26-year-old wife Manjavva underwent the operation, said, “We met BJP leader Jagadish Shettar twice in Hubbali and once in Bengaluru. Our thanda has the maximum number of patients and we have been present at every protest. We want Rs 5 lakh compensation from the government and the doctor to be jailed. No other woman should suffer like our women did.”