A special team set up by the Health department has concluded its inquiry into the allegation that a surgical instrument was left behind in the abdomen of a woman from Kozhikode after a surgery conducted five years ago at the Government Medical College Hospital here.
According to sources, the team led by Abdul Rasheed, Special Officer at the Directorate of Medical Education, spoke to doctors and other hospital staff who were part of the surgery in the past two days.
K.K. Harshina, a native of Adivaram and wife of Malayil Kulangara Ashraf of Pantheerankavu, had claimed that she developed serious health issues after the C-Section surgery at the Institute of Maternal and Child Health attached to the medical college hospital in 2017. The surgical instrument was found during scanning at a private hospital recently after she complained of urinary infection. It was removed later through another surgery held at the MCH last month. The inquiry team recorded the statement of Ms. Harshina as well. They also collected documents related to the surgery.
Other members of the team are Saleena Shah, Joint Director, Nursing, and Ranju Raveendran, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College, Kollam.
Meanwhile, the medical college authorities too have completed an internal inquiry by a team of three doctors though the details were not available. The authorities had earlier ruled out any lapses on the part of the hospital staff. According to them, Ms. Harshina had undergone surgeries at another hospital earlier and the goof-up must have happened there. There are also reports that the surgical instrument recovered from her body does not belong to the medical college hospital.
