--- title: India: 8 Women Dead After Sterilization Surgery description: 68 others have been hospitalized and five are in critical condition, according to state health officials canonical: https://time.com/3577640/india-sterilization-kills-8-women-chattisgarh-bilaspur/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-11T08:18:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:21:15.017Z article:section: World og:title: India: 8 Women Dead After Sterilization Surgery og:description: Dozens more hospitalized, some critically og:url: https://time.com/3577640/india-sterilization-kills-8-women-chattisgarh-bilaspur/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: India: 8 Women Dead After Sterilization Surgery twitter:description: Dozens more hospitalized, some critically twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 8 Women Dead in India After Sterilization Surgery by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Nov 11, 2014 8:18 AM CUT by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Nov 11, 2014 8:18 AM CUT Eight women [died](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-11/eight-women-dead-after-india-mass-sterilization-goes-awry.html "undefined") on Monday in the Indian state of Chattisgarh following government-sponsored sterilization surgery, according to a state medical official. Sixty-eight other women have been hospitalized and at least five are in critical condition, Bloomberg reports. Sonmani Borah, commissioner of the Bilaspur district where the drive took place, [told](http://news.yahoo.com/eight-indian-women-die-dozens-critical-mass-sterilisation-050122386.html;%5Fylt=AwrTWfwYrGFUrSkAUEfQtDMD "undefined") Agence France-Presse that symptoms such as low pulse rates and vomiting started appearing in the women on Monday. The routine sterilization drive was part of a campaign by the Indian government aimed at controlling population growth, and was conducted by doctors at a private hospital who reportedly performed 83 operations within six hours on Saturday. “The deaths were due to infection causing septic shock,” said Amar Singh Thakur, the district’s chief health officer. “We are investigating, but it is too early to say that it was due to sterilization.” Local news outlet NDTV [reported](http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/eight-women-die-dozens-critical-after-sterilisation-camp-in-chhattisgarh-619112?curl=1415690052 "undefined") that the Indian government has set up a three-member panel to investigate the deaths and also announced compensation of about $3,000 to the victims’ families. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3577640/india-sterilization-kills-8-women-chattisgarh-bilaspur/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3577640/india-sterilization-kills-8-women-chattisgarh-bilaspur/"},"headline":"8 Women Dead in India After Sterilization Surgery","datePublished":"2014-11-11T08:18:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:21:15.017Z","description":"Sixty-eight others have been hospitalized and five are in critical condition","url":"https://time.com/3577640/india-sterilization-kills-8-women-chattisgarh-bilaspur/","keywords":["India","Dead","Surgery"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3577640/india-sterilization-kills-8-women-chattisgarh-bilaspur/","name":"8 Women Dead in India After Sterilization Surgery"}}]}] ```