SHILLONG, May 2: Ganesh Das Hospital has landed into a controversy after a woman, who had delivered a child in the hospital, was shifted to NEIGRIHMS on Monday evening to remove a portion of the needle which was stuck inside her body during the course of delivery.
The family members have alleged that it was a serious act of negligence on the part of the doctors and staff of the hospital.
Reacting to the incident, uncle of the woman, Donald Rani, said that even the newborn infant is unwell since the hospital does not have ventilator for treatment. “We are thinking of shifting the newborn to other hospitals,” Rani said.
Informing that they had initially gone to Umsning CHC, he continued, “We were advised to take her to Ganesh Das Hospital since she had to undergo cesarean delivery.”
According to him, while many pregnant women, who entered the labour room, had come out, her niece continued to remain there.
“The female attendant then asked the nurse why there was a delay. She was told by the nurses that they need to again treat her. The female attendant was also asked to sign on the paper for the treatment,” Rani said.
He added that only the female attendant was told that something was stuck in the patient’s body and no other details about the case were shared.
Informing that Ganesh Das Hospital had made the arrangement to shift his niece to NEIGRIHMS for the test, Rani said that the test report revealed that a portion of a needle was stuck inside her body and it was located near the kidney.
He further informed that the doctors in NEIGRIHMS suggested immediate removal of the needle since the same may result in serious complications.
“Initially, the hospital was trying to convince us that no needle was stuck in her body. But they wanted to send my niece to NEIGRIHMS just to confirm,” he said.
Rani also expressed surprise at the amount of time taken to shift the patient to NEIGRIHMS.
He said while his niece had delivered the child in the morning, they reached NEIGRIHMS around 6 pm.
Informing that the removal of the needle will be carried out on Wednesday, Rani demanded that there should be some kind of action.
“We will not remain silent. We will not hesitate to close down the hospital if the situation demands,” Rani said.
He also urged Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh to personally look into this matter.
Meanwhile, Additional Medical Superintendent of Ganesh Das Hospital, M. Syiem clarified that it was not a case of negligence on the part of the staff and doctors.
Informing that the woman was admitted on Sunday, Dr Syiem said that she had given birth on Monday morning around 10.45am.
She informed that they had to shift the patient for the observation after the delivery since she had developed some complications.
“We found that she had some complication in the skin after examining her. We again took her to the labour room. Unfortunately, a portion of a needle had broken during the course of treatment. We could not locate the portion of the needle which was broken. We immediately called the general surgeon who advised that she should be shifted to NEIGRIHMS which has better treatment facilities,” Dr Syiem said.
She further claimed that the doctors had explained everything about this case to the uncle of the woman.
“We thought we had managed to explain them what had happened. This is one such isolated case and it is due to the default in the instrument. But is it proper to question the commitment of the doctors and staff considering the number of deliveries we are doing every day,” she said.
Meanwhile, sources revealed that as per preliminary report, the woman was advised caesarean section but they instead went for home delivery. Later, the woman was brought to Ganesh Das Hospital.
It was also informed that there was a tear already by the time the patient had arrived at the hospital.
Sources said that the doctor on duty had informed the attendant that the baby was distressed and while the attendant informed the relatives over the phone, no one showed up until next morning.
“In the meantime, the lady developed hematoma (swelling with clotted blood) in the area which shows that there is bleeding inside the wound,” the sources informed.
Further, sources informed that when the doctors were trying to repair the bleeding parts, it was then the needle broke.
Sources further informed that the baby was put in the Special Newborn Care Unit in Ganesh Das Hospital but needs a tertiary level of care neonatal intensive care unit.
