On Sunday, June 19, a 32 year old Hindu woman was subjected to gross medical negligence in a rural health centre (RHC) in the Sindh region of Pakistan. The RHC reportedly had no female gynaecologist available at the time to perform the delivery of the woman.
The inexperienced staff at the centre who handled the case cut off the head of the unborn baby and left it inside the womb of the woman. The bungled surgery put the woman’s life in danger due to the risk of a severe infection and/or bleeding.
The distressed woman was rushed to a nearby hospital but it could not provide her the medical attention that she required. She was eventually forced to go to Jamshoro from Mithi, to the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) for availing treatment.
Professor Raheel Sikandar, head of the gynaecology department at LUMHS informed the media that the woman’s uterus had ruptured and that they had to open up her abdomen surgically to remove the baby’s entrapped head to save her life.
He mentioned that the woman was a Bheel Hindu woman who belonged to a village in Tharparkar district. She had to undergo immense trauma at the RHC at the hands of the inexperienced staff due to the unavailability of a female gynaecologist.
After the news of the incident went viral, the Pakistani government got involved and ordered a proper investigation of the case by relevant authorities. The Director-General of Sindh Health Services Dr. Juman Bahoto has also reportedly ordered separate enquiries into the tragedy, including the reports that some hospital workers took pictures and videos of the woman in anguish and shared them on various WhatsApp groups.
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