Village doctor leaves head of fetus in woman’s body

A team of gynecologists at Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) Hyderabad saved a woman's life after a botched delivery in Tharparkar district's private hospital put her life at grave risk by leaving the decapitated head of still born fetus inside her womb.

Malookan, 52 years old, underwent a childbirth with breech presentation at a local health facility in Chachro, a rural town in Tharparkar, on Thursday.

It is not known that which doctor or technician performed the delivery, the woman's husband Dharmu and sister in law told the doctors at LUH that the head of the fetus was decapitated and the rest of his body was pulled out from the uterus. The Sindh Director General Health has sought a report from the District Health Officer of Tharparkar in that regard.

The patient in such a critical condition was referred to civil hospital Mithi where the doctors refused to take the case and asked her family to take her to Hyderabad LUH. She was made to travel at least around 65 kilometers from Chachro to Mithi and later another 210kms or more to Hyderabad. Malookan was admitted in the LUH around 10pm but the surgery was completed at around 5am.

"The patient came with the case of breech presentation delivery. The child's body was removed in Chachro but the head remained inside her uterus," Dr Uzma Thebo, who led the laparotomy, informed, adding that she had a ruptured uterus. "The patient came with the complaint of pain and bleeding and it became very difficult for us to arrange A-negative blood for her."

According to Dr Thebo, she consulted the administration and the senior professors of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, before performing the laparotomy in which the head was removed from the uterus.

The incident has laid bare the poor state of health facilities in Tharparkar where high child mortality has drawn criticism over the provincial government for many years. "Although decapitation rarely occurs, keeping in view the woman's age and the position of her fetus, she should have undergone c-section," a gynecologist, who requested anonymity, said while talking to The Express Tribune.

She believed that apparently negligence or inexperienced hands at that Chachro based health facility caused the incident. Another gynecologis, who also did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the case, echoed the same view. Both the doctors, however, said thorough investigation should be conducted in such cases to prevent the recurrence.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2022.