OMG! Surgical Scissors Finally Removed From Man's Body After 18 Years

The craziest thing that doctors can do when performing a surgery is leaving a surgical instrument inside the patient's body. Unfortunately, this was what happened to Ma Van Nhat 18 years ago.

According to United Press International, the Vietnamese underwent surgery Saturday at a hospital in Thai Nguyen Province after specialists from Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi were asked to help with the procedure.

Nhat had started to experience stomach pain only a few months back. And in December last year, Nhat went for an ultrasound, and that was when doctors found out he had a pair of surgical scissors in his body. The surgical scissors were apparently accidentally left when Nhat underwent an operation at the Bac Kan Provincial Hospital after a road accident in 1998.

Global News quoted the 54-year-old in an interview with Vietnam's state VTV who said, "After that [1998 surgery], I went home but there was a mild but long-lasting pain, so I went to a clinic where they said I had an ulcer, so I only took pain relief medicine for it."

Vietnamese local news site said the pair of 6-inch long surgical scissors lied next to his colon. Because it had been there for a long time already, it had become rusty and some of the organs had stuck to the medical device.

The operation lasted for had three hours, according to Ngo Trung Thang, deputy head of general affairs at Gang Thep Thai Nguyen hospital. But Nhang is recovering well.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has required the management of the hospital in Bac Kan, to be investigated. Bac Kan hospital recognized the issue but said that since hospitals usually keep records of 15 years, it might be hard to gather evidence pertaining to Nhat's case.

This is not the first time surgical errors had occurred in Vietnam. Reports from previous years said there were cases when doctors operated on the wrong limbs of patients.