Two Gurugram Doctors Charged For Leaving Cotton Inside Women's Stomach: Report

Two Gurugram doctors were charged by the police on court orders for leaving cotton swab inside a woman's stomach. The First Information Report (FIR) was registered against two doctors from Shiva Hospital in sector 12 of Gurugram, Haryana for medical negligence after a woman complained of abdomen pain, post-childbirth.

The woman had reportedly undergone a Caesarean Section at the hospital and a swab of cotton was left in her abdomen during the surgery. The order for the FIR was given by the court of Gurugram chief metropolitan magistrate on January 18, Tuesday. The order was announced after the woman's husband's plea to register the complaint against the hospital was turned down by the police.

The woman's husband Diwas Rai, a native of Darjeeling who lives at Sikandarpur with his wife Swastika had tried to lodge the complaint. Rai said that his wife found out about the pregnancy in April 2020. In November 2020, she delivered a baby girl at the hospital via C-section.

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Rai alleged that he had initially taken his wife to the government Anganwadi centre as he had lost his job during the pandemic and did not have money for a private hospital. There, he was asked to shift his wife to the Shiva Hospital.

The hospital doctors operated on Swastika and the couple were charged with a fee of Rs 30,000. Right after the delivery, Rai allege that Swastika complained of abdominal pain and swelling with red marks on her stomach.

She was taken back to the hospital. There the doctors gave her vitamins and other medicines to reduce the pain. But that did not work out. Thereafter, Rai took her to another hospital and the doctors there suspected another ailment and began medication for that.

Two Gurugram Doctors Charged For Leaving Cotton Swab Inside Women's Stomach, Know More:

Rai said that even that medical course did not help and she lost a kilogram while suffering the pain. With persisting pain, she was taken to the third hospital where they were advised CT-Scan. Post which, a swab of cotton was detected in her abdomen.

After coming to know about this, Rai went on to complain to the Shiva Hospital and they initially ignored him. But later sent an ambulance and admitted Swastika to the hospital without acknowledging Rai and no consent was taken, he alleges. They allegedly made Swastika sign a blank form and operated on her. The swab was removed.

Rai alleges that he went to file a police complaint but was ignored. Then the court ordered the police to lodge complaints against Dr Poonam Yadav and Dr Anurag Yadav of the hospital under sections 417 (cheating), 336 (endangering life) and 337 (causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Other sections like 338 (the act of endangering), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 ( insult to the modesty of a woman) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC at Sector 14 police station, had refused to lodge the complaint.

The Station House Officer (SHO) of the Sector 14 police station, Satendar Singh said that the FIR is registered. "In such cases, the investigation is carried out on directions of the district's chief medical officer. Police would seek his help to form a team to investigate the case," Singh said.