E-Paper
Blade out, Saifi breathes easy
IT?S FINALLY out! Saifi Khan and his family breathe easy now. The nine-year-old had to suffer a second surgery of the chest within a week because the doctor who had operated upon him on Friday last, at the Nishat Hospital, had left a surgical blade in the anterior walls of the boy?s chest. Saifi had been operated upon on Friday to drain pus clotted beneath his lungs. The negligence had occurred at that time. ?It took us ninety minutes to remove the scalpel. He is safe and would be discharged in two or three days,? said KGMU HoD, Cardio-Vascular & Thoracic Surgery, Dr Shekhar Tandon.
IT’S FINALLY out! Saifi Khan and his family breathe easy now. The nine-year-old had to suffer a second surgery of the chest within a week because the doctor who had operated upon him on Friday last, at the Nishat Hospital, had left a surgical blade in the anterior walls of the boy’s chest.
Saifi had been operated upon on Friday to drain pus clotted beneath his lungs. The negligence had occurred at that time. “It took us ninety minutes to remove the scalpel. He is safe and would be discharged in two or three days,” said KGMU HoD, Cardio-Vascular & Thoracic Surgery, Dr Shekhar Tandon.
Dr Tandon who performed the surgery on Saifi on Wednesday said getting scalpel into the body is not a new thing. He explained there is a negative force in the lung area and the blade is manoeuvred by a tight handle. The blade may fall if the fitting is loose.
Doctors in the Department of Surgery were of the view that getting a blade inside the body should be taken seriously. “It’s a surgeon’s duty to complete the surgery and even if he needs to open the body again for taking out an instrument left there, he should not hesitate from doing so for sake of his patient,’ said a senior faculty member.
In Saifi’s case, they said, the blade could have been dangerous had it been in a vertical position. If it had entered the lungs then, even finding the blade would have been difficult for any surgeon.
