Health ministry sets up expert review after Strumica mother left paralyzed
The committee will include specialists and a foreign medical expert; inspections at three hospitals have already been completed.
The Ministry of Health has set up an expert commission to review the case of a 19-year-old mother from Strumica who became paralysed after a Caesarean section performed under spinal anaesthesia.
The oversight will cover the entire course of the patient’s delivery and subsequent treatment because of the serious medical complications she suffered, the ministry said.
"The commission for expert oversight is composed of specialist doctors in neurology, anaesthesiology, gynecology, radiology and neurosurgery. In order to ensure a complete, independent and objective professional assessment, the Minister of Health has requested that a medical expert from a neighbouring country be included in the commission for expert oversight. He will participate in reviewing the patient’s entire medical documentation and in drafting the expert opinion on the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures carried out," the ministry said.
Extraordinary inspections by the State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate (DSZI) have already been completed at three health institutions where the patient was treated: the General Hospital in Strumica, the Clinical Hospital in Shtip and the University Clinic for Neurology in Skopje. Inspectors examined medical records and took statements from the medical staff involved in her care.
The case provoked public attention after the young woman lost movement in her legs and developed paraplegia following the operation. Her family has publicly accused medical error and inadequate treatment. The patient was transferred first to the Clinical Hospital in Shtip and then to the Clinic for Neurology in Skopje for further examinations.
Management at the Shtip hospital has announced it will form its own expert commission to evaluate the case and stated that no surgical lapses were observed within their treatment domain. The Ministry of Health said it will publish the expert commission’s findings after the review is completed.
Photo: press material from the event
