Kozhikode: Kunnamangalam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court has sent a summons to four accused health workers, including two doctors in a case of medical negligence after forceps were allegedly left inside the abdomen of a female patient during a Caesarean section at Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) Kozhikode in 2017.
The court, responding to a complaint filed by a resident of Adivaram, has scheduled the accused health workers to appear on April 19, 2024. The police had filed a charge sheet on December 29, 2023, based on the complaint. The 750-page charge sheet names four individuals, including an assistant professor from the gynaecology department at Manjeri Government Medical College, a gynaecologist from a private hospital in Kottayam, and two staff nurses from Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, reports Onmanorama.
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The accused health workers are booked under the provisions of the Medical Negligence Act. The charges stem from an incident on November 30, 2017, during Harshina's third delivery-related surgery at Kozhikode MCH. According to police, a pair of artery forceps were stuck in the stomach of a patient during her third delivery-related surgery at the Kozhikode MCH.
If convicted, the accused could face a maximum of two years in jail, according to ACP K Sudarsan, the investigating police officer. In March, the government had granted Rs 2 lakh to Harshina from the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund. However, she expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the compensation was insufficient given the substantial amount spent on treatment due to medical negligence.
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Forceps Left Inside Patient's Abdomen At GMC Kozhikode: Doctors, Nurses to Face Action, police looks for prosecution
team had earlier reported that 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.