In a shocking incident at Stanley Medical College and Hospital in Chennai, a mentally ill man was found with a blade and a 10 cm long stick inside of his body.
On June 8th, Kalidoss was taken to the hospital complaining of fever and abdominal pain. The doctors had to carry out three operations to remove the objects from his body.
The doctors first found the presence of pus in his liver that required immediate surgery.
The doctors carried out more tests to find a 10 cm stick in his intestine and a blade in his respiratory tract.
A fiber optic bronchoscope was used by the doctors to see the object. It was a tedious process as the man was breathing continuously. To remove the object the doctors intubated him without damaging the airway.
Head of anesthesia, Dr. Kumudha Lingaraj said, “He had folded the blade in two and swallowed it. Just as we removed the tube, we saw another part of the blade. So we had to intubate him again to retrieve it.”
The doctors successfully removed the blade and had to put the patient on a ventilator for four days. After which the doctors conducted a loop ileostomy to remove the stick. A loop ileostomy is a surgery where an incision is made in the abdomen.
The dean of the hospital, Dr. Ponnambalam Namasivayam said the surgery was a miracle due to the patient’s condition. He said, “A cough could have displaced the blade and punctured his lung or blood vessels.”
Kalidoss will be discharged from the hospital in a week. His treatment which would have cost his family 3 to 5 lakh in a private hospital but was free under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.
