K.K. Rajaram, District Medical Officer, on Tuesday said that the district medical board would try to submit a report to the police by August 8 on the allegation raised by K.K. Harshina, a native of Adivaram, that a surgical instrument was left behind in her abdomen after a C-Section surgery performed at the Government Medical College Hospital in 2017.
Though the body was expected to hold a meeting on Tuesday, it was reportedly put off because the authorities could not get a radiologist on board. Thereafter, Ms. Harshina and the functionaries of an action panel, who have been on an indefinite satyagraha outside the medical college hospital since May 22, staged a sit-in outside the DMO’s office.
Dr. Rajaram told The Hindu that subsequently an assurance was given to her based on the instructions of the district collector that the report would submitted in week. Apart from the DMO, the board’s members include the public prosecutor, gynaecologist, anaesthetist, and doctors from the departments of medicine, surgery, and forensic medicine. Ms. Harshina turned emotional while talking to the media, and said she could no longer wait for justice.
Ms. Harshina had to live with the instrument, an artery forceps, in her abdomen, for around five years. It was removed through another surgery at the same hospital in 2022. A police inquiry conducted by a team led by K. Sudarshan, Assistant Commissioner of Police attached to the Medical College Police Station, had reportedly found fault with the doctors on duty.
According to sources, Ms. Harshina had undergone C-Section surgeries at the Government Taluk Hospital, Thamarassery, on November 23, 2012, and March 15, 2016. The alleged incident happened during the third surgery on November 30, 2017. Though she was discharged from the hospital in December, Ms. Harshina had complained of unbearable pain and bleeding. She had sought treatment at various hospitals subsequently. However, the metal object was detected during the CT scan at another private hospital in September 2022.
According to sources, the police is reported to have highlighted Ms. Harshina’s claim that she had undergone an MRI scan at a private hospital in Kollam before her third delivery in 2017. Nothing unusual was observed during the procedure. As per the police inquiry, this proves that the artery forceps might have been left behind during the surgery at the Institute of Maternal and Child Health at the medical college hospital.
