Hundreds of patients recalled over pelvic floor operations

Almost 200 hospital patients have been recalled amid concerns over pelvic floor operations carried out by a Birmingham gynaecologist.

Dr Angamuthu Arunkalaivanan, who worked at City and Sandwell Hospitals, continued to use a synthetic mesh in his surgeries after it had been withdrawn as a treatment by health chiefs in 2009.

It has been linked to complications including infections and incontinence in some patients.

Now Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust, which runs the hospitals, has asked 191 of Dr Arunkalaivanan’s surgery patients to make an appointment with a senior gynaecologist to discuss their treatment.

In 2013 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence said using the mesh should not be used as a first treatment. Later, the use of the mesh in the operation was totally banned in Scotland.