A massive ovarian tumour weighing 22 Kg was recently removed from the abdomen of a 69 yr. old woman, Namita Mukherjee, at the Budge Budge ESI Hospital near here. This rare operation was performed under the guidance of Dr. Sekhar Seshadri, a city gynaecologist.

Doctors said the patient had been diagnosed with the tumor for almost 10 years, during which additional cardiac complications also developed. Hence, even the doctors at ESI Hospital, Maniktala (which is in central Kolkata) refused to take the risk of operating upon her. This prompted the doctors of ESI Budge Budge, including Dr. Shavon Kundu, Medicine Department, to accept the challenge.

Dr. D.P. Chatterjee, Superintendent ESI Budge Budge said that after the operation it was diagnosed as paraovarian cyst with circumference of 90 cm and filled with 5 litres of straw-coloured fluid.

Dr. Seshadri said it was an unusual tumour by the side of ovary and it changed the total anatomy. The ureter was totally deranged. It was difficult to take out the tumour intact. The operation took more than a couple of hours. Being a rural hospital and quite a long distance away from Kolkata, it does not have a blood bank facility. The doctors completed the total operation with only two units of blood in hand.

The incident focuses greatly on the efficiency of the medical team of ESI Budge Budge Hospital. If they would have been well equipped with more technologies and facilities it is obvious that they would be able to handle more critical cases. And it would certainly help a certain sector of people who falls under ESI (Employee State Insurance) scheme to depend on this hospital without any hesitation.