A Vietnamese man is demanding an explanation from a local hospital after recently discovering that he has been living with a pair of surgical scissors in his abdomen for 18 years, according to local media reports.
Ma Van Nhat, 54, told the Vietnam News Agency that he had a surgery at the provincial general hospital in Bac Kan in 1998, after he was injured in a road crash.
The man said he had been healthy, until he had abdominal pain recently.
He went to another hospital last week and got an X-ray surprise: a 15-centimeter pair of scissors in his abdomen, which he said must have been forgotten by the surgeons 18 years ago.
The case has been reported to Bac Kan Hospital.
Trinh Thi Luong, the hospital's director, said she is trying to find out which doctors were involved in the 1998 operation, promising "a solution" soon.
In the meantime, Nhat is still living with the scissors.
Medical flops in Vietnam, though rare, could tarnish the local healthcare system. At least three extraodinary cases have been reported this year.
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