Forceps left inside patient's abdomen at GMC Kozhikode in 2017: Patient demands Rs 50 lakh compensation

Kozhikode: The action council supporting K Harshina, the victim of alleged medical negligence at Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), demanded Rs 50 lakh compensation for her after she called off her 104-day-long sit-in protest.  

Speaking to the media in Kozhikode on Monday, September 4, Harshina said that she has to be compensated for the suffering she was subjected to because of medical negligence. 

“Now, that the police probe has found out that the medical equipment was left in my stomach at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital and the erring staff has also been identified, the government has to compensate me for the sufferings that I went through all these years,” she said. 

A member of the Action Committee which has been supporting Harshina said that the protests for justice are not yet over. “We have decided that if the state government doesn’t sanction her the compensation before the present Assembly session resumes on September 11, we will protest before the state secretariat on the 13th of this month,” said the committee member.

Also read- Botched C-Section Surgery At GMC Kozhikode In 2017: Police Submits Revised Chargesheet

Incidentally, the fresh announcement came on Saturday after the Kozhikode Medical College police submitted a charge sheet in the case at a court in Kozhikode. 

Medical Dialogues team had recently reported that the police submitted a revised chargesheet in the Kunnamangalam Judicial First Class Court last week. The chargesheet includes names of two doctors and two nurses of the medical college which has been submitted to the court based on the investigations conducted by the police and scientific evidence.

An investigation by the Kerala police found that forceps were accidentally left inside a woman's abdomen after surgery in 2017. As a result, the report indicated two doctors and two nursing staff of the hospital responsible for the costly goof-up.

The police launched the investigation following a complaint by the woman alleging that she faced health complications after undergoing a caesarean at the Government Medical College hospital in 2017.

A senior police officer 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.

Harshina, the 30-year-old woman from Kozhikode, had filed the complaint seeking a probe in October last year.

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 used by surgeons to clamp bleeding vessels during surgeries.

Also read- Forceps Left Inside Patient's Abdomen At GMC Kozhikode In 2017: Police To Arrest Doctors, Teachers' Association Oppose Move