Why are women dying in India’s sterilisation camps?

Two weeks after 13 women died after surgical sterilisation at a camp in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, the cause of their deaths remains unknown. Laboratory reports have confirmed the presence of toxins in the drugs given to these women. However, the postmortem examinations of seven of the women indicate they had septicaemia, which can result from poor hygiene during surgery, according to a fact finding mission by the non-governmental organisations Population Foundation of India, Parivar Seva Sansthan, the Family PlanningAssociation of India, and Common Health. Aside from the drugs, septicaemia alone “would have been enough to risk killing every woman,” said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of Population Foundation of India and part of the mission. Judicial investigation