Victim Minati Mallick from Maliancha village. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, April 25: In the latest instance of an alleged medical error, surgeons forgot to remove cotton materials while carrying out a childbirth surgery in the district headquarters hospital here.

After the victim developed excruciating pain in her abdomen, the foreign materials were removed from her body in another government-run hospital in Jagatsinghpur district. The Kendrapara District Headquarters Hospital authorities have ordered a probe into the incident.

“More often than not, patients become victims of the whims and fancies of doctors in government hospitals. Leaving bandage materials inside the operated human body amounts to criminal negligence on part of the doctors who conducted the surgery. This bears testimony to the carelessness and negligence of doctors while attending to the indoor patients in government-run healthcare centres,” said Kishore Kumar Swain, a civil society activist.

“My wife was admitted to the maternity ward of Kendrapara District Headquarters Hospital on April 21. As she complained of labour pain, she was shifted to the operation theatre in the evening. She gave birth to a boy after the doctors conducted a minor surgery on her abdomen. On medical advice, the mother and the newborn were discharged from the hospital the next day,” said Pramod Mallick, husband of the victim Minati. They hail from Maliancha village under Mahakalpada police station area.

After getting discharged from the hospital, the mother of the newborn encountered a harrowing ordeal. She experienced unbearable pain in her lower abdomen. Her lower limbs and abdomen also showed signs of swelling.

“I rushed her to the nearby Kujang Sub-Divisional Hospital on April 23. After a thorough check-up, doctors there traced cotton materials stuffed inside her abdomen. The foreign substance in her body weighed around 250 gram. After its removal, she was slowly relieved of the pain. Now, she is fine,” Mallick told The Telegraph.

“Had the cotton objects not been removed on time, my wife would have got severely infected. I was shocked to learn that doctors in Kendrapara had left the cotton materials inside after the operation. I have brought the matter to the notice of the higher authorities in the district headquarters so that such incidents do not happen in future,” he said.

“I am not aware of the incident. It might be a case of an unintended error,” said Ananda Gopal Mohanty, district secretary of Orissa Medical Services Association.

“The victim’s husband had informed us about it. Though no written complaint has been lodged, an inquiry has been ordered into the alleged lapses,” said Biraj Kumar Sahu, chief district medical officer, Kendrapara.