Doctor leaves forceps or (scissors like) in patient’s abdomen for 7 years

“The patient went for a C-section and left with a scissors in her system” SLBC

By Alpha Kamara in New York

Zainab Kamara, a resident of Kambia district has been complaining of pain in her abdomen for seven years. The native of Dixon chiefdom was brought to Kambia town the district headquarter, to do skills training to empower herself. Welfare for the Society of the disabled, an organization that supports people living with disabilities saw the need to empower her as a woman of great potential. But her condition was deteorating as she was always complaining of a sharp pain in her abdomen.

According to Sierra Leone’s national broadcaster SLBC, the victim has been complaining of pain in her abdomen for seven years, a situation that forced her to abandon her skills training classes. The disabled organization took her to the hospital for medical scans and further treatment.

“At the hospital they performed the scan. The scan revealed that there was forceps or scissors like instrument inside her abdomen. The instrument has been left inside her since 2014”, the report stated.

How did the forceps find its way inside Zainab?

Zainab further explained that in 2014, she went to the Port Loko government hospital in the North of the country for a C-section or surgery to deliver her baby. Since then, she has been feeling the pain. “I went for the C-section operation, lost my baby and left with that pain ever since. I have taken lots of medicines, but the pain never stops. I bled a lot, I was mocked by my colleagues. But I never knew this scissors was left inside my abdomen. Until the scan was done on me few weeks ago”, she told SLBC. The welfare disabled organization further referred me to Mabesseneh hospital in the far north where an operation was performed on me and the forceps removed, she said.

Meanwhile, the Welfare for the Society of the disabled is planning to sue the country’s medical system to ask for compensation for Zainab who has been suffering since 2014. “How can a doctor forgets forceps inside a patient’s abdomen? Adding insult to injury, Zainab also lost her baby. This is a slap to the medical profession of this country? Isatu, a women’s right activist in Kambia told Mountain Waves

As the story unfolds, activists in Kambia are asking the Port Loko District Health Management Team to identify the doctor who performed the operation on Zainab and also should take responsibility to save a future occurrence.  Mountain Waves 2021