VIJAYAWADA: For 22-year-old G Swapna, her difficulties were far from over even after she underwent a C-section surgery at the Eluru Medical College Hospital on April 19. Bogged down with excruciating pain in her stomach, she kept enduring the agony for four months believing it to be part of the postpartum process. Little did she know, her condition would soon turn critical and would land her back in the hospital.
On August 8, doctors referred Swapna, a resident of S Kothapalli village in Pedapadu mandal in Eluru district, to Vijayawada Government General Hospital. The medical staff were shocked until they detected operative forceps in her stomach through X-ray imaging. The doctors, who removed the forceps successfully, said that the victim’s small intestine was partially damaged after the medical instrument was accidentally left in the abdomen during her delivery.
“Though the victim’s condition is said to be stable, she will have to undergo another surgery after six weeks,” the doctors at GGH said. The botched surgery came to light after a hospital staff at GGH shared the X-ray images on social media platforms. Later, he removed the posts after the authorities prompted him to do so. However, the pictures that went viral outraged the victim’s family, who alleged that the medical staff tampered with the details of Swapna
Hospital Superintendent Sashidhar confirmed the glaring lapse in the surgical procedure. Meanwhile, Eluru Collector Prasanna Venkatesh formed a probe panel to investigate the incident and fix accountability. Concurrently, the hospital authorities have set up a separate committee to ascertain what led to the medical negligence.
Speaking to TNIE, MV Ramanaiah, the president of Praja Rogya Vedika, an NGO that focuses on healthcare, emphasised the need for stringent adherence to standard guidelines in operating theatres to prevent such life-threatening situations. He pointed out that proper equipment counting procedures must be followed and documented after each surgery, and that guidelines must be strictly adhered to in order to ensure the safety of patients.