Sagar
Post News Network
BHUBANESWAR: In a case of extreme medical negligence, a lady doctor at the Capital Hospital here has been accused of leaving a towel in a woman’s womb during a caesarian section. The hospital has not confirmed the incident.
The same doctor had in April last been accused of dropping a newborn from her hand, and the child died later. The hospital does not confirm this incident as well, but an inquiry is on.
Leaving towels, sponges and even scissors inside the body during operations, or failing to take them back before the wound is stitched, is a negligent act not very uncommon in the medical profession. This, however, leads to grave post operation complications for the patient.
Madhusmita Mohrana, 23, a resident of Sisilo at Balianta, lodged a complaint with Capital police Tuesday against the Capital Hospital, alleging that the doctor who operated her had put her life in serious jeopardy. Medical officer Renubala Dei performed delivery through caesarian section on Moharana April 20.
The operation took place barely 20 days after another allegation of medical negligence against Dei surfaced. Dei allegedly dropped a newborn baby from her hand, and the baby later died. Gitanjali Jaysingh, mother of the deceased baby said Dei’s handling of the baby was reckless.
In Moharana’s case, she developed severe pain in her abdomen after a week of the operation. “We thought it must be normal, so we continued with medicine. Then, I felt there was a towel in my womb. I somehow managed to pull out the towel through my private part,” Moharana said. Feroz Kumar Sethi, Moharana’s husband, told Orissa Post that when he went with his wife to meet hospital director BB Patnaik, he hurled abuses at them and asked them out.
While an inquiry is ongoing against Dei in the baby-dropping incident, the director jumped the gun and insisted that the baby died of asphyxiation. Patnaik told Orissa Post, “It’s a different case altogether. We didn’t find her being at fault in the baby-dropping case. An inquiry is on, though.”
Renubala Dei is a senior doctor. She had been promoted from Class-1 (Junior) officer to Class 1 (Senior) on a salary scale of `15,600 –39,100 March 15 in 2013. Orissa Medical Services Association general secretary Kishore Chandra Mishra said if the allegation against Dei is found to be true, her membership of the association would be suspended.
