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b'Last month, the Supreme Court directed all States and Union Territories in the country to follow guidelines formulated by the Union Health Ministry to monitor \\u201cunnecessary\\u201d hysterectomies being performed. A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure to remove a woman\\u2019s uterus, and sometimes, the surrounding organs and tissues.\\xa0\\nThe PIL petition that the Supreme Court acted on, was filed in 2013 by Dr Narendra Gupta, a public health activist, who, found during his work in Rajasthan, that many women, primarily those from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Communities, who were still in their twenties and thirties, had undergone hysterectomies after being told that this was the only option they had to deal with the gynaecological problem they had come in with. Reports from multiple parts of India have indicated that is a widespread problem. Economically disadvantaged women sometimes feel coerced into getting their uterus removed so that they continue to work through the month without the problem of menstrual bleeding and pain, lack of hygiene and sanitation contributes to gynaecological problems and money for the surgery often leads to debt. On the other side, are some hospitals that perform a large number of these surgeries.\\nWhat do the Supreme Court\\u2019s guidelines now mandate? Is women\\u2019s health not given enough priority in India? How can the issue of missing wombs be comprehensively dealt with?'