Doctor’s negligence leaves patient fighting for life

Medic leaves towel, belt inside patient’s stomach during surgery for removal of tumour

RAWALPINDI:

In a shocking incident of extreme negligence and sheer incompetence, a lady doctor of a private medical facility in Morgah left a towel and belt inside a patient’s stomach during a surgical procedure. The incident left the patient with a severe infection and fighting for her life.

Four months after a surgical procedure to remove a tumour from her abdomen, 25-year-old Uzma Nisar developed severe stomach pains and was then re-operated to remove the towel and belt left inside her stomach by the negligent doctors.

The Father of the patient, Nisar Ahmed, demanded the higher authorities take notice of the incident. Ahmed said he is a resident of Chakwal district, his daughter Uzma, 25, is married and her husband works abroad. In June, Uzma had a stomach ache and a subsequent check-up at a private hospital near Morgah revealed that she had a tumour in her stomach. The doctors suggested an urgent operation which was conducted on payment of Rs55,000.

A few days after the operation, Ahmed said, his daughter again started having a stomach ache, so they once again approached the doctors at the same hospital who prescribed her various medicines but she still did not feel comfortable. Ahmed added that in the past four months they had spent huge amounts to pay for the consultation charges of several physicians in Chakwal, but the stomach pain would soon come back after temporary relief.

Eventually, during an abdominal ultrasound at a private hospital in Rawalpindi, they were told that during the operation of the tumour, the doctors left something in the abdomen.

He said that on the morning of October 14, the doctors operated on his daughter again and a towel and a belt were taken out of her stomach. The doctors said that the patient had contracted a severe infection which they were trying to control with medicines, but her condition was critical.

Ahmed told The Express Tribune that the doctors of the private hospital in Morgah have shown extreme negligence. “My daughter is currently struggling for her life. Doctors have declared the next 24 hours critical,” he said and added that he performed his duties as a government school teacher all his life and exposed thousands of students to the light of education. “I demand the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Punjab Chief Minister to take notice of the negligence of the doctors and take strict action against the private hospital,” he said.

Ahmed also requested the health department to investigate the matter. “I will provide all kinds of evidence to the health department as to how the doctors charged huge fees and brought my daughter to this point,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2022.