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Joint press Release on Chhattisgarh Sterilizations and related issues

Health Activists held a Press Conference on 19th November to draw attention to the range of issues raised by the recent tragic and completely avoidable deaths of more than a dozen women and the critical condition of many more following their laparoscopic sterilis​ation in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.The manner in which the surgeries were performed, in complete violation of all standard operating procedures,and subsequent events amount to grave violation of some very basic health rights of the affected women.

Sterilisation deaths: Rusty, infected tools killed women in Chhattisgarh?

Furious protesters took to the streets in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday as activists complained standard procedures and guidelines were not followed in the state’s mass government-run sterilisation programme that left 13 women dead.

A team of doctors rushed to Bilaspur to investigate the deaths following the operations performed by a doctor accused of using rusty equipment in an operation theatre that had not been used for four months.

Surrogacy industry thrives in India amid regulatory gaps

New Delhi: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Make in India” campaign on 25 September, surrogacy would have been last thing on his mind. Now a leading fertility expert in the capital says she has been inviting couples—many of them foreigners—to “make in India” for years. “Our Prime Minister is knocking doors and inviting the world to come ‘Make in India.’ We are giving people a ‘make in India’ family,” said Rita Bakshi, an IVF (in vitro, or artificial, fertilization) expert. A register marked “surrogacy” lies on her desk in her well-appointed South Delhi office.

Taming the international commercial surrogacy industry

The recent case of surrogate baby Gammy, left in Thailand by his commissioning parents after being born with Down’s syndrome and a congenital heart defect, provoked censorious press coverage worldwide. “Surrogate mom vows to take care of abandoned twin,” ran the typical headline when the story broke in August. Outrage grew when it emerged that the father had 22 child sex convictions.1

Exploratory study on clinical trials conducted by Swiss Pharmaceuticals companies in India: Issues concerns and challenges (September, 2013)

Sama Resource Group for women and Health in collaboration with Bern Declaration (BD), a Switzerland based NGO carried out to a Study to explore the conduct of clinical trials sponsored by Swiss pharmaceutical companies in India. The main objective  is to verify if these companies comply with the relevant ethical standards and with the regulatory environment in India from the perspective of various constituencies and stakeholders. The study was conducted across four states of India and 17 clinical trial participants were interviewed.

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