A Mizoram MLA performed an emergency surgery on a woman on Wednesday in the absence of a district surgeon, Hindustan Times reported on Friday. K Beichhua, a Mizo National Front legislator from the Siaha constituency, decided to conduct the operation at the district hospital after being informed that the resident surgeon was at a training programme in Imphal.

Beichhua, a qualified MBBS graduate, said he was told that the 35-year-old woman was having “severe abdominal pain” and that she needed to be operated on immediately. “The woman’s stomach had a large perforation [hole] in it and if the operation had not been performed, she may have died,” he said. Beicchua said the woman was fine now. “I visited her on Thursday and she was laughing,” he said.

“I have performed hundreds of operations during my career, but the last one was in December 2013 after I got elected as an MLA,” he added. Beichhua was elected in 2013 on an MNF ticket. While the Siaha district civil hospital has seven doctors, it has only one surgeon. The district is the least populated region of Mizoram.