Scissors removed from abdomen after year

Jinnah Hospital doctors say patient stable.

LAHORE:

A woman who had surgical scissors left in her abdomen in a surgery at a private hospital more than a year ago has undergone a surgery to remove it and is recovering at Jinnah Hospital.

One-and-a-half kilogrammes of unhealthy flesh was also removed.

Yasmeen Irshad, 35, said she had been suffering from severe pain since a hernia surgery at Sohail Surgical Hospital in Raiwind last year. She said she kept consulting the same doctors but the pain never diminished.  She said her condition became worse three weeks ago as she stopped urinating and her belly swelled.

An ultrasound examination of her abdomen revealed that there was a scissor inside possibly left by doctors who operated her for a hernia.

(Read: Throwing in the towel - Woman, family protest against Allied Hospital doctors)

Irshad, her husband, said he had lodged a complaint with Raiwind police on September 9 for registration of a case against the doctors who operated the woman for a hernia. He said doctors who removed the scissors had agreed to testify. One of the doctors who performed the surgery said the woman had not yet made a full recovery but was stable at the moment. He said if her condition did not deteriorate in another weak she would be discharged. “Her liver is not functioning properly. We will keep her under observation for a week,” he said.  Irshad, a gardener, has appealed to the chief minister and the chief justice to order action against the hospital administration. Sohail Surgical Hospital administration was not available for comment. Pakistan Medical Association’s Dr Salman Kazmi said an inquiry should be lodged and disciplinary action taken against the accused doctors if they were found guilty.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2011.