Paradip, May 12: Minerva Mohanty, a 40-year-old native of Bianla village in Tirtol police station limits, had been complaining about persistent stomach ache since the past six months.

She got some relief today when the doctors of Khadija Nursing Home in Cuttack extracted a pair of surgical scissors from her pelvic region.

In an appalling case of medical negligence, surgeons of a private hospital in Jagatsinghpur allegedly had left a scissor inside the operated portion of Mohanty, six months ago.

Mohanty, who was admitted to the Jagatsinghpur nursing home to cure her of appendicitis on November 7 last year, had developed excruciating pain around her stomach after the surgery.

She had developed multiple medical complicacies as the surgeon who had conducted the surgery had left a 7-cm long surgical scissors inside the operated body part of her. Mohanty had to bear the brunt of the sharp metal object. As the pain became unbearable, she was taken to the Khadija Nursing home, where an ultrasound test detected the scissor firmly attached inside her body.

Mohanty is now being treated with post-surgical care and is out of danger.

Chief district medical officer Binod Behari Mohapatra said: "No complaint has been received by us. However, an inquiry has been ordered into the incident as it is a case of severe medical negligence."

"My wife's suffering increased after the appendicitis surgery. She would experience constant pain around the stomach and abdomen. The doctors of the Jagatsinghpur nursing home administered her with painkillers. But, the relief was temporary. Later, I consulted the doctors in Cuttack. They advised us for an ultrasound test. It detected the scissors lying inside the pelvic region," said Minerva's husband Niranjan Mohanty.

The scissors remained undetected for six months, despite the victim's persistent stomach ache. Minerva, somehow, managed to live through the harrowing condition. Niranjan has decided to sue Achuta Mohanty and P.K. Beura, the surgeons who had left the scissors inside Minerva's body.

Glaring instances of medical negligence of both government and private hospitals have hogged the spotlight in recent past.

On March 22, an eight-year-old girl, who was down with fever and respiratory problems, was wrongfully administered an anti-rabies vaccine in the headquarters hospital at Jagatsinghpur.

Earlier on February, a sweeper in a government-run hospital in Jagatsinghpur had to carry out the post-delivery stitching, as the doctor had left the operation theatre to attend another patient.