BOTCHED DELIVERY: Hospital staff cut off newborn's head, leave it inside Hindu woman's womb in Pakistan

In a case of gross medical negligence, the staff of a rural health centre in Pakistan's Sindh province severed the head of a newborn baby and left it inside the mother's womb.

A 32-year-old Hindu woman from the Bheel community, who belongs to a far-flung village in Chhachhro taluka of Tharparkar district, went to a Rural Health Centre (RHC) in her area. There were no female gynaecologist available, and the inexperienced staff cut off the newborn baby's head in the mother’s womb and left it inside her in a botched-up surgery conducted, reports said.

When the woman faced a life-threatening situation, she was rushed to a nearby hospital in Mithi where there were no facilities to treat her. Eventually, her family brought her to the Hyderabad’s Liaquat University Hospital (LUH). Then the rest of the body of the newborn was taken out of the mother's womb, saving her life, reports said.

“The woman’s life has been saved,” Prof Sikandar who heads the gynaecology unit of the LUMHS said.

Sikandar said the baby’s head was entrapped inside the womb and the mother’s uterus had been ruptured and they had to open up her abdomen surgically and take out the head to save her life.

Dr Juman Bahoto, Director-General of Sindh Health Services, has ordered separate inquiries into the case.

He said the inquiry committee will find out what happened, especially the absence of a gynaecologist and female staffers at the RHC in Chhachhro.

The inquiry committee will also look into reports that the woman had to undergo the trauma of having her video taken while lying on a stretcher.

“Apparently, some members of the staff took her photos on a mobile phone in the gynaecology ward and shared those pictures with different WhatsApp groups,” Juman added.