Sterilisation not target-driven programme: Nadda

Union Health Minister J P Nadda today said that sterilisation is not a target but demand driven programme and doctors have been directed to strictly adhere to the norms to ensure that Chhattisgarh-like tragedy doesn't reoccur.
"The thing to be noted is that the sterilisation process was not target driven but demand driven," he said on the sidelines of a blood donation camp organised by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in collaboration with AIIMS Trauma centre.
The health minister had yesterday also clarified that it is a misconception about family planning being a target driven programme and there are no targets set by the Central government.

Nadda also said that the team of doctors from AIIMS who were sent to mass sterilisation camps in Chhattisgarh have provided necessary guidance to the doctors and helped them set proper norms.
"As per the requirement of the situation, AIIMS doctors who visited Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh have guided the doctors and have set up proper norms that the doctors have been asked to adhere to," said Nadda.
Under attack over botched sterilisation surgeries at government-run medical camps which have so far claimed lives of 13 women in Chhattisgarh, the state Chief Minister Raman Singh had yesterday announced a judicial probe into the incidents.

Nadda said that the Centre will provide all necessary assistance in judicial inquiry set up by the Chhattisgarh government, adding that he is constantly in touch with Singh over the issue.
Appreciating the initiative of blood donation programme, the minister said, "there is a need to replicate the initiatives that AIIMS and para military forces like CRPF have taken. I really feel proud of it and assure that all sorts of help, may it be financially or other wise, will be given to them.
Around 1,100 CRPF personnel donated blood during the camp. They also took pledge to donate their organs after death.