Forceps in stomach: Second probe report too goes against Kozhikode woman

K K Harshina. Photo: Manorama Online

Kozhikode: Nearly six years after a Pandeerankavu resident had a disastrous surgery at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital in which a forceps got stitched up in her abdomen, an expert panel report has now given a clean chit to the institution.

The forceps found in the stomach of K K Harshina of Malayil Kulangara House, Pandeerankavu, do not belong to the Kozhikode Medical College, states the report.

The report was submitted by the second inquiry committee set up by the Health Minister following Harshina’s complaint. The Minister had formed two committees to investigate the issue. Both the inquiries found that it could not be established that the forceps belonged to the Kozhikode Medical College.

The report has been submitted to the Health Department. It is silent on how the forceps got lodged in her stomach.

All records, including the instrument register of the Kozhikode Medical College at the relevant time, were scrutinized. The verifications found that no forceps were reported missing. Her previous surgeries were conducted at the Thamarassery Government Hospital in 2012 and 2016. Since there was no instrument register in the hospital at the time, the origin of the forceps could not be determined, the report states.

Attempts to determine the age of the forceps by availing the service of the Forensics Department had failed. Harshina's Caesarean section was conducted at the Institute of Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) on November 30, 2017. (ICMH is a wing of the medical college hospital.) The forceps — 12 cm long and 6 cm wide — were found in a CT scan of her stomach recently. The scanning was advised by doctors at a private hospital where she had arrived complaining of a urinary infection. But the surgery to remove it was held at the ICMH.

She had undergone several medical procedures for severe pain since the 2017 surgery.

Harshina has been staging a protest in front of the medical college for the last four days.

“If it does not belong to the medical college, are they suggesting that I swallowed the forceps? They should show the courage to publish all the pages of the expert committee’s report. The attempt from the beginning was to deny the lapse," Harshina said.

Harshina is the wife of Ashraf, a resident of Malayilkulangara at Pantheerankavu.

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