Vijayawada: Charge memos have been served on the gynaecologist and staff nurse of Eluru Government Hospital for their lapse in leaving artery forceps in the abdomen of a woman after delivering her baby through C-section procedure.
However, a PG student, who had also been part of the three-member team headed by senior civil surgeon Dr. Vidya has been let off, as she had worked under the direction of the team head.
A departmental inquiry found that the senior civil surgeon, staff nurse, and the PG student helped a 25-year-old woman Swapna deliver her baby on April 19 at the Eluru hospital.
As per standard operating procedure followed during the delivery of babies through C-section, the staff nurse is supposed to arrange all the equipment needed for the surgery. Before closure of the abdomen with sutures after surgery, the nurse must count instruments and mops to check that the entire equipment is there. But in the case of Swapna, the team head and the staff nurse failed to follow this norm, resulting in her suffering mild stomach pain during the last four months.
Medical education director Dr. D.S.V.L. Narasimham said, “The state government has viewed the lapse on the part of the gynaecologist and the staff nurse seriously. Accordingly, charge memos have been issued. Based on the explanation they give, the government will take a decision on how to deal with them.”
Health authorities say that the gynaecologist has nearly 20 years of experience. She has performed thousands of deliveries in her career. There had been no such lapse earlier.
The woman, from whose abdomen the forceps has been removed, will undergo another surgery after a few days, as her intestine has developed infection following removal of the damaged intestines. She is currently undergoing treatment at the government hospital in Vijayawada.
