Forceps Left Inside Patient's Abdomen At GMC Kozhikode: 750-page Chargesheet filed against doctors, nurses

Kozhikode: In the latest update regarding the alleged medical negligence case in Government Medical College Hospital (GMC) Kozhikode where forceps were reportedly left inside a female patient's abdomen, the Medical College police have submitted a 750-page chargesheet against all four accused connected with the case in a Kunnamangalam court. 

The four accused in the case involve two doctors - an assistant professor at the gynaecology department of Manjeri Government Medical College and the other is a gynaecologist at a private hospital in Kottayam and two staff nurses at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.

Also read- Forceps Left Inside Patient's Abdomen At GMC Kozhikode: Govt Grants Permission To Prosecute Doctors, Nurses

According to a TH news report, the police presented the chargesheet to the court on December 28, arraigning 60 witnesses in the case of Harshina, a 30-year-old woman from Kozhikode, whose botched surgery allegedly resulted in forceps being left in her abdomen after a C-Section procedure at the Government Medical College Hospital.

This comes in response to the order issued by the Kerala Health Department which authorised the medical college police to prosecute the two doctors and two nurses in connection with the case.

Medical Dialogues team had recently reported the case where the Principal Secretary of the Health Department issued the above-mentioned instruction on Saturday. In compliance with this directive, the charge sheet was expected to be presented to the Kundamangalam court on Tuesday.

The four accused have been charged under sections punishable by imprisonment of up to two years. The probe by police revealed that a pair of artery forceps were stuck in the patient's stomach during her third delivery-related surgery at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital on November 30, 2017.

The matter came to light after Harshina, a 30-year-old woman from Kozhikode filed a complaint seeking a probe in October last year. She alleged that she faced health complications after undergoing a caesarean at the Government Medical College Hospital in 2017.

The woman had undergone her third caesarean at the Medical College in November 2017, with her earlier two C-sections performed in different private hospitals.

On September 17, 2022, the doctors of Kozhikode Medical College conducted a significant surgery on Harshinia, who was suffering from severe pain, to remove a mosquito artery forceps that had been in her stomach for the past five years. The mosquito artery forceps is a scissor-like piece of equipment surgeons use to clamp bleeding vessels during surgeries.

Based on the complaint, Kerala police conducted an investigation and found that forceps were accidentally left inside a woman's abdomen after surgery in 2017, the report indicated two doctors and two nursing staff of the hospital were responsible for the costly good-up.

A senior police officer had earlier said that the investigation confirmed that the forceps were accidentally left inside the woman’s body after the caesarean section, which was an alleged act of negligence by the doctors.

Also read- Forceps Left Inside Patient's Abdomen At GMC Kozhikode: Doctors, Nurses To Face Action, Police Looks For Prosecution