A 33-year-old woman in Noida lived with a large piece of cotton gauze inside her body for nearly six months, thanks to the carelessness of a team of surgeons and medical staff at a super-speciality hospital in Noida who performed a C-section to deliver her son last December.
Namrata Bhargava from Sector 62 was suffering from severe abdominal pain, when she left the Fortis Hospital in Noida on 26 December, three days after her caesarean birth. She didn't take it seriously and neglected the pain thinking that it must be an outcome of the C-section.
"Namrata was getting all her regular checkups done in Fortis when she was pregnant," Abhishek Bhargav, Namrata's brother told Mail Online India. "She was taken for a caesarian on December 22, 2013 by Dr Monica Wadhawan and was discharged on December 26, 2013. She went home with the baby, but with persisting pain, which she thought was obvious after a surgery."
However, as days passed, her health condition didn't improve, but only got worsened. Along with her stomach pain, she also developed vomiting. She underwent a series of tests and treatments and it was only recently doctors identified the actual culprit. On 30 June, Namrata underwent another surgery at Max Hospital in Saket to remove the cloth.
"The piece of cloth was detected in her stomach after she underwent ultrasound and CT scan at Kailash Hospital in Noida," Amul Bhargava, Namrata's husband, told Times of India. "On June 28, we admitted her to Max Hospital in Saket, Delhi, and she underwent surgery on June 30 to remove the cloth. Her legs and hands have swollen due to infection and according to doctors she will be kept under observation for the next few days."
Doctors are planning to conduct another surgery to prevent the infection being spread to other parts of the body, he added. According to the reports, the medical negligence has already cost around ₹5 lakh to the family.
Enraged by the incident, the woman's family has lodged a complaint against the hospital at the Saket police station.
Meanwhile, the hospital stated that it has already appointed a committee to investigate into the matter.
