A resident of Karaganda, Alik Sagin, has reported that a medical needle was left inside his body following a routine operation at the regional clinical hospital. The foreign object was discovered by chance — during an X-ray at another clinic. The man is now demanding an official investigation and claims there has been inaction on the part of the health department.
According to Cmn.kz, the victim went to the Karaganda region clinical hospital due to pain in his right side. After an examination, the surgeon gave a preliminary diagnosis of 'pleurisy' and scheduled an operation. The surgical procedure took place on 15 April and, according to Sagin, lasted approximately nine hours.
After the operation, the man was transferred to a phthisiology centre, where an X-ray examination of the right side area revealed a medical needle.
On 19 April, the patient underwent a second operation, during which the foreign object was removed. Sagin notes that after this, his condition deteriorated significantly.
According to him, more than a month has passed since the error was discovered, but no investigation has been carried out by the medical facility or the health department.
The man claims that he is now incapacitated, unable to work and support his family.
Unfortunately, such cases occur periodically in Kazakhstan. For example, in 2017 at Almaty's 4th City Hospital, during a hip replacement, a four-centimetre piece of a drill was left in a patient's femur. The woman only found out six months later, when the pain worsened and she had an X-ray. Medical staff acknowledged the foreign object but refused to remove it, citing the risks of additional injury. How that story ended is unknown.