A specialist medical facility is facing allegations of clinical negligence after a surgical sponge was allegedly left inside a woman’s abdomen during an operation.
Sheeba Pramod, a resident of Menamkulam, Kazhakkoottam, underwent an emergency appendectomy at the CSI Mission Hospital on December 3. She was discharged nine days later, but she struggled to recover as she suffered a three-month ordeal of “unbearable agony” and severe mental distress.
Sheeba’s surgical wound failed to heal correctly. Plagued by persistent pain, she eventually sought a second opinion at another private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
Diagnostic scans revealed a shocking cause for her complications. A foreign object, identified as a surgical cloth or gauze, had been stitched inside her abdominal cavity, causing a small perforation in the wound site.
Sheeba returned to the original hospital, where a second procedure was performed to remove the object.
Distressing footage has since emerged, purportedly showing the moment the blood-stained cloth was extracted from the infected wound.
Senior staff at the hospital have claimed they were “unaware” of how the cloth entered her body. They claim the cloth must have been forgotten when Sheeba visited other medical facilities for pain relief.
Refusing to accept the hospital’s explanation, Sheeba’s family has escalated the matter.
A formal complaint has been lodged with the Chief Minister’s office, demanding a high-level inquiry into the lapse.
“We want strict action against those responsible for three months of needless suffering,” Sheeba stated firmly.
The family is now pursuing comprehensive legal proceedings against the hospital for medical malpractice.