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Quack held for woman's death after abortion

Our Correspondent in Tiruchi

An uneducated woman was arrested in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu for performing an abortion that caused the death of another woman. The accused, Rita Jayasheelan, had a flourishing practice and reportedly performed thousands of such operations.

The 40-year-old has no remorse for her actions. "I have studied up to the fifth standard. My father was a siddha vaid. I have performed thousands of abortions. And some have died in the process," she told the police in her statement.

A mother of four, Chitra, approached her for medical termination of pregnancy. The woman was in the fifth month of pregnancy, when it is not advisable to abort the foetus. But Rita went ahead with the operation. Chitra died within a fortnight.

"There is big money in medical termination of pregnancies, and that funded my bungalows, cars and lifestyle," Rita reportedly told the police. "I used to charge anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 6,000, depending on the capacity of the woman's family and the circumstances. Obviously for children born out of wedlock, the charge was higher."

Chitra's husband had only Rs 250 to pay, when they approached Rita. He was made to cough up another Rs 2,750 before Chitra was discharged. A fortnight later, Chitra complained of stomachache. When they approached Rita, she sent them to the government hospital, where she died.

"It was the doctors at the government hospital who told us that the surgery was the cause of death and suspected the hand of a quack," says Dhanashekar, Chitra's shocked husband. "Until then, we had no clue that Rita was a fake doctor."

Following Chitra's death, the police have received three more complaints of deaths, possibly caused by Rita in the last three months alone.

Rita medical 'training' consisted of watching her father apply medicines and bandages on his patients. When she realised that there was more money in "practising allopathy", she assisted an allopathic doctor for three years.

"And that's all the experience I had in allopathy," her police statement quotes Rita as saying. With that she managed to have a flourishing practice for more than 20 years.

"Whenever there were complications, Rita always sent her patients to 'bigger hospitals'. That way, she ensured that she did not have to take the blame for the casualties," said a police officer.

"It's the ignorance of the local people that helped her," the officer said, adding, "There is no way we can check whether a medical practitioner is qualified or not, unless our suspicions are aroused."

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