Surgeon who performed maximum surgeries seeks law to check

On the eve of World Population Day, noted surgeon Dr Lalitmohan Pant, who has performed 3.81 sterilisation procedures in the last four decades, Wednesday demanded a law in view of growing population in India.

Fondly called as 'doorbeen-wale bawa' in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh, Dr Pant, a laproscopic sterilisation expert, works with Health department of the state government.

"A law to check population growth is the need of the hour, which should be enacted as soon as possible," Dr Pant told PTI.

Dr Pant said it was obvious that a law infringing on one's natural right to procreate cannot be implemented in a democratic country like India.

"However, a serious thought should be given to enact a law to deny government benefits to those people who have more than two children," Dr Pant said, adding that population bloom was eating into the resources of the country.

Claiming that he has performed 3.81 sterilisation procedures in the last 37 years, the 64-year-old surgeon said this has stopped approximately 10 lakh births.

"None other surgeon in the world has done so many sterilisations," he added.

"I conducted the first operation in 1982. Since then I have been conducting surgeries at camps in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi," he said.

According to a report by the United Nations Population Fund, India's population grew at an average annual rate of 1.2 per cent between 2010 and 2019 to 1.36 billion, more than double the annual growth rate of China.

World Population Day, which seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, was established by the then-governing council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.