NELLORE: Doctors of Kovur Government Hospital on Saturday extracted a cotton gauze left behind in a woman’s stomach during an operation performed at Nellore Government General Hospital three years ago. The condition of the woman is now stable. Manyam Nirmala, a farmhand from Vavilla village of Vidavalur mandal in Nellore district, approached Kovur Community Health Centre on Saturday after experiencing severe pain in her stomach.
Doctors who examined her found that a cotton swab used in surgeries had been left behind. The 40-year-old said she was operated upon in February 2015 at Nellore Government Hospital for the removal of her uterus. “Since then, I have been suffering frequent stomach aches. Though I got treated at a private hospital later, there was no relief. It is the doctors here who informed me that a cotton swab had gotten stuck in my stomach,” she said. Dr Yousef, who removed the foreign object said the patient had told him the private hospital had removed a thread from her stomach. “But she was still suffering from stomach pain. We examined her and found the cotton swab in her stomach.
We have successfully taken it out,” he explained. When asked which doctor had operated her, Nirmala couldn’t remember. “I was operated upon at the government hospital in Nellore in February 2015. That’s all I remember,” she said. When contacted, District Medical and Health Officer C Vara Sundaram said he was yet to get any complaints, but would inquire into the incident as he had been apprised of the matter. This is not the first such case emerging from Nellore Government General Hospital. On October 3, 2016, Chalapathi, a rice mill worker, was operated upon and discharged. Doctors realised that they had left behind a pair of scissors when he was readmitted after experiencing severe pains. The State Human Rights Commission filed a case suo motto when the incident made headlines. Doctors should be vigilant while providing medical services, Nellore GGH Development Committee chairman Chatla Narasimha Rao said.