A woman has alleged that a female surgeon left a towel in her abdomen during caesarean delivery at a private hospital in Lahore on February 16, 2006. Later, the same surgeon demanded Rs 40,000 for removing the towel.
Sana Bibi told reporters here on Wednesday that earlier doctors diagnosed a tumour in her abdomen, while it was a piece of towel, which was left by the surgeon during operation. She said that she was married to Muhammad Imran of Lahore and began to live with her in-laws on Ravi Road in the Punjab capital. On February 16, she was admitted to Shamim Clinic on Amir Road, Shadbagh for an expected normal delivery of her first baby.
She said: "I was taken to a labour room. Clinic owner Dr Shamim told us a few moments after the admission that the normal delivery would not be possible and it will be only through a caesarean section. She asked us to arrange for Rs 18,000 for a major operation."
Sana said that the hospital administration later bargained with them and received Rs 14,000 for the operation besides Rs 5,000 for medicines. She said that surgeon Dr Iffat Naheed, who is also serving in Services Hospital, Lahore, operated upon her and Dr Akbar acted as the anaesthetist.
Expert surgeons have opined that normally a doctor, who operates on a C-section, places at least eight pieces of towel in the abdomen, which are called 'sponges' and remove them one by one before stitching the abdomen.
The medical history of the patient reveals that Dr Iffat Naheed either committed negligence due to inexperience or deliberately stitched the abdomen without removing a piece of towel. Sana suffered unbearable pain in her stomach for seven months, while she continuously visited Dr Iffat at Shamim Clinic during this period, paying heavy fee and purchasing costly medicines.
"Dr Iffat told me at the end of the sixth month that there is a tumour in my abdomen. She demanded Rs 40,000 for its removal," she said. "I came to my parents' home here after a disappointing ordeal. I felt serious pain after pulling a sewing machine and was taken to Aziz Medical Centre in Delhi Gate area where doctors admitted me."
She said that medical director Dr Abdul Aleem Chaudhry detected the presence of a piece of towel in her abdomen. Dr Aleem said: "There was very stinky and unbearable smell when Dr Shahid Mansoor Nizami and Dr Altaf removed the piece of towel from her abdomen which had deeply damaged and injured her intestines. An alternative arrangement has been made for the removal of her wastes due to severe damage of her colon. However, she is recovering."
When contacted, Punjab Health Director General Dr Aslam Chaudhry said there were rules for taking action against doctors working at government hospitals, while there was no such thing for taking action against doctors working at private clinics. He said that such cases had been reported many a time in the past, but they were helpless in taking action against private hospitals.
Assistant professor Dr Iffat Naheed was repeatedly contacted, but she disconnected her mobile phone every time. When contacted in the capacity of a patient, she said: "Being an assistant professor at Lahore Services Hospital, she will not operate on C-Section." She asked the caller to bring the patient at National Defence Hospital in this connection and disconnected her cell phone.