Two months after she started a fight seeking justice against medical negligence, KK Harshina, a native of Adivaram in Kozhikode district got a call from Health Minister Veena George on Sunday, December 11. The Minister promised her that a fresh probe would be ordered to find out who was responsible for leaving a forceps in her abdomen during a surgical procedure. It was in the first week of October that 30-year-old Harshina found out that the reason for her unending pain in her abdomen was a forceps (surgical instrument), left in her abdomen five years earlier. An inquiry was ordered immediately by the Health Department. But two months later, no action was taken and the family did not get a copy of the inquiry report. After the media picked up the story, the Health Minister told her that the report was vague and unclear and a new probe would be ordered soon, Harshina told TNM.
On November 29, 2017, Harshina, who was 25 years old then, was admitted to the Institute of Maternal and Child Health at Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode. She underwent a caesarean (c-section) procedure for the delivery of her third child. “I am sure that this happened at the medical college hospital. I am still suffering from severe back pain as a result of their negligence. So I want justice,” Harshina said. According to her, the Health Minister had said that since everyone knew that there was this instrument in the abdomen, an inquiry report that was vague and did not provide details about where it happened could not be accepted. An order to form another expert panel has been given.
Harshina started experiencing terrible pain in her abdomen after her third caesarean procedure. “The first two caesareans were easy for me. Everyone thought I might be experiencing pain because it was the third time I underwent a caesarean. Even after being discharged, I was not able to walk properly. Two months later, I got an infection and another surgery was done. The pain was unbearable. Again, there were repeated infections and I had to undergo two more surgeries. No scanning was done then. I had constant pain in my abdomen and even the slightest touch caused a lot of pain. My visits to the hospital became frequent, and they could not identify a reason.” Most of the time, Harshina kept the pain to herself as she was worried about her three children and taking care of them. She used to work for a little while and then had to take rest immediately as the pain would be unbearable.
In June this year, she started getting urine infections. Doctors prescribed antibiotics which would reduce the infection but would resume soon after. She went to Nirmala Hospital in Kozhikode, where they said she might have to get admitted to the hospital or take injections twice daily. But even this only helped her temporarily as the pain increased after some time. “I always wondered why this was happening to me. I was sure that something terrible had happened,” she said.
As the pain never ceased, Harshina consulted a urologist suspecting kidney stones. “When the doctor touched my abdomen, I cried out in pain. He said that the pain was not related to stones and sent me for CT scanning.” It was then that they realised the presence of a metal object in her abdomen. She was referred once again to Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, where they conducted surgery to remove the object identified as a surgical instrument.
“It was a relief to know the cause of all the pain, but I was worried as well. The forceps pierced my bladder, and this led to severe infection. Three days after I had that surgery, I was in extreme pain. I thought I might die as the pain was unbearable. Everyone kept asking me why I was always in pain. I suffered a lot mentally, financially and physically,” she said. The hospital denied that the forceps were left in the abdomen during the caesarean surgery. They claim that it could have happened when Harshina underwent surgeries elsewhere.