Indian surgeons call for end to unnecessary operations in private sector

A panel of surgeons in India has called on professional surgical societies to tackle the twin problems of unethical surgical practices in the private healthcare sector and the lack of services for vast numbers of the population.

The panel members, speaking at the release of The BMJ’s Health in South Asia supplement last week (www.bmj.com/health-in-south-asia), appealed to surgical societies to make efforts to reduce “healthcare corruption” in private hospitals, and to collaborate with the government to reduce inequitable access to surgical care.

Surveys of health facilities show a severe lack of surgical resources at referral hospitals. India’s community health centres, which serve rural populations across the country, have only 896 surgeons against a …