Gangtok: In a shocking case of repeated medical negligence, Sikkim’s largest healthcare facility, STNM Hospital in Gangtok, has once again come under scrutiny. Having undergone surgery to remove her appendix to ease the pain she was feeling, a woman from Sikkim continued to suffer for over a decade more and several doctors failed to diagnose why. When the diagnosis was finally revealed earlier this month, it shocked her and her family – the 45-year-old had a pair of surgical scissors in her abdomen, left behind by doctors who conducted the appendicitis operation in 2012.
The woman’s husband said she had undergone the procedure at the Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial (STNM) Hospital in Gangtok in 2012 and continued to have bouts of pain in her abdomen. She consulted many doctors, who gave her medication, but the pain would inevitably return. On October 8, she went to the STNM hospital again and an X-ray revealed the surgical scissors in her abdomen. A team of medical experts performed surgery immediately to remove the scissors and the woman is said to be stable and recovering well. As the news spread, however, it prompted outrage and demands for accountability from the hospital and medical authorities in the state.
An investigation has now begun.