It’s a sigh of relief for Harshina 10 months after a forceps was removed from her stomach. A police inquiry has found that the forceps was forgotten in her abdomen in 2017 during a Caesarian operation conducted at the Medical College Hospital (MCH) in Kozhikode. Harshina, a native of Adivaram in Kozhikode, has been on a months-long protest seeking justice. MCH had earlier claimed that it cannot be categorically said if the medical instrument belonged to the hospital.
Medical College sub division Assistant Commissioner of Police Sudersan K said that the report which has been submitted to the District Medical Officer (DMO), will be studied by a medical board that the DMO will constitute for this purpose. “The board will include the investigation officer, public prosecutor, doctors and the DMO,” he said.
Harshina had delivered her third child through a Caesarian operation held at the Kozhikode MCH. Post the operation, she developed health difficulties, including severe pain in the abdominal region. It was after consulting multiple hospitals and doctors that the metal object lodged in her body was discovered through a scan.
Two inquiries, one constituted by the Kozhikode MCH internally, and one by the state’s Health Department, had stated that it is not possible to say that the recovered surgical instrument was from the hospital. However, this did not lead to Harshina backing off from her fight for justice. She has been leading a strike in front of the MCH for 64 days now, and is resolved to go forward with the strike until justice is served. “I was sure that the Kozhikode MCH was at fault. In the five years after my last child was born, I have been through indescribable agony. My family also suffered. I was determined to get justice, come what may,” she said, explaining why she chose to launch a hunger strike demanding justice in May this year. Even though she later stopped the hunger strike on account of deteriorating health, Harshina and a group of persons have arrived at the MCH around 10 am every day for the past two months.
When asked how she felt receiving the first positive response in the many months of her fight for justice, Harshina said that there is a sense of some relief. “I haven’t seen the report, I got to know of it through the media. There is a sense of relief, but I will not end the strike until I receive full justice. I am confident that the truth will come out,” she said.
Harshina said that no higher ups have contacted her in the 64 days that she has been sitting on strike outside the MCH. “Authorities including the Women’s Commission and the Health Minister had said that they will respond once the report is out,” she said.
Harshina said that she derived the energy to protest from the mental and physical pain that she endured. “I have the support of society now. In a way, me getting justice is also a need of the larger public now. My fight is also a way of proving that reacting to injustice isn’t pointless. Many had told me that these protests would bear no fruit. I need to show through my fight that protests yield results,” she added. Harshina said that she has resolved to hold the protest outside the MCH till “complete justice” is served.