KARACHI, May 5: A 40-year-old woman died on Saturday at the Civil Hospital, Karachi, after going through three surgical operations — one in which a dreadful mistake was made and two to get rid of the resultant complications.

Maryum Begum had stones in her gall-bladder. On April 22, Dr Nizam-ud-din operated upon her and removed the gall bladder. But what he did not remove, and which effectively sealed Maryum’s fate, was a sponge which had been used in the operation.

Maryum’s husband, Wajid Hussein Soomro, being an employee of the hospital, was in the operation theatre when the patient was operated upon by the surgeons.

Talking to Dawn, he claimed that it was the responsibility of the people assisting the surgeon to get all the used swabs removed from her abdomen.

But because they were not attentive enough, they lost count of the number of sponges which had been used in the operation and which should have been removed before stitching Maryum up after the removal of her gall-bladder.

Wajid told this reporter that his wife’s condition, instead of improving, started deteriorating after the operation. “So an ultrasound was done which indicated presence of air or foreign matter in Maryum’s body,” claimed Wajid.

On the 24th, Dr Nizam-ud-din again opened Maryum up, this time to remove the swab. In the meantime, due to pressure from the swab, Maryum’s left lung had collapsed, claimed Wajid. Infection had also started making its presence felt.

He said during the second operation, Dr Nizam-ud-din was so nervous that he only removed the illusive sponge and did little else. The surgeon should have taken care of some complications too, but that was not to be.

Wajid said when the surgeons realized that Maryum’s bowel was leaking and a ‘festula’ had developed, they decided to open up Maryum again. This operation was undertaken on the last day of last month by the Prof Abdullah Iqbal, the head of Surgical-V.

However, soon after this operation, Maryum breathed her last. The death certificate — a copy of which has been obtained by Dawn — says she died at 3.55am. She had septicemia when she died.

This indicates that the sponge, or swab, which had caused Maryum’s death was not sterilized, Wajid said. He added that an enquiry be ordered to look into the causes of his wife’s death after a seemingly straight-forward operation.

Maryum, said Wajid, had been complaining of pain in her abdomen since a number of years. “But she was making do with medicine only as she dreaded operations.

“I took her to Civil Hospital for the operation to get rid of the problem once and for all. It never crossed my mind that a simple operation, like this, could be mishandled in such a big way.”

When contacted on Monday, the medical superintendent of the hospital acknowledged that Maryum had died under complicated circumstances. Prof Noshad Shaikh added that an enquiry had been ordered.

Prof Noshad went on to say that letters seeking explanations had been written to the AMS Operation Theatres — Prof Mohammad Ahmed — and also Prof Abdullah Iqbal.

The Civil Hospital’s MS claimed sterilization of swab was not an issue. “The issue is if and why was a swab left in her body. We will take strict action if it is proved that indeed a swab had been left in Maryum’s body.”

Maryum leaves behind five sons and three daughters to mourn her death. Only God knows who would take care of them now, said Wajid.