A vast majority of people believes that doctors are a negligent lot and often prescribe unnecessary laboratory tests, scans and medicines. Proving that belief is not a misconception, a new incident comes into light in West Tripura district where a surgeon was found guilty as he had left a drain tube inside a lady patient’s abdomen during an operation which was conducted nine years ago in 2006 in a private nursing home.

The patient’s hubby, Bappi Roy Choudhury had filed a case against the senior surgeon in a regional court. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has fined the medical professional for his negligence and was fined Rs. 2 lakh after he was found guilty.

Cosmetic surgeon Dr Pratap Sanyal has conducted laparoscopic operation on on a lady named ‘Sarbani Deb’ in 2006 in a private retirement home. After the operation, he had actually left a 8-inch drain tube inside her abdomen. Sarbani suffered serious pain in the abdominal area and told Dr. Sanyal about it.

However, the doctor didn’t respond to their complaint. Then the patient’s husband moved her to Kolkata the next year on October where the medical professionals discovered that she was carrying the drain tube in her abdominal area for 21 months. They carried out an operation and removed it from her abdomen.

When they asked about the same to Dr Sanyal, showing a scanned report of her abdominal areas issued from a different diagnostic centre, he misbehaved with them.

The surgeon has been asked to pay Rs. 1 lakh to the plaintiff by 45 days as compensation. Of the overall, Rs. 50,000 has actually been charged for litigation and the rest Rs. 50,000 as compensation for mental pain and harassment. If Dr. Sanyal failed to clear the compensation in due time, he has to pay additional 9 percent to the plaintiff, a legal representative stated.