In an ironical twist of fate, a complicated and critical surgery that went off perfectly was marred by a freak accident that resulted in four of the patient’s toes having to be amputated.
Dombivali resident Deepak Shirke (27), an engineer, was admitted to the AIMS Hospital in Dombivali on July 19 after he was diagnosed with a semi-malignant tumour in his abdomen. The operation was scheduled for the next day.
The critical surgery took around five hours, by the end of which the tumour was removed and stitches administered. However, during the surgery, anaesthetist Dr Vikram Vardhan placed a room warmer near Mr Shirke’s feet.
“A room warmer is only placed in labour rooms as newborn babies need to be in a room whose temperature is higher than room temperature. For some reason, Dr Vardhan brought it into the operation theatre from the labour room. The patient’s entire body, except his abdomen, was covered with sheets and surgeons were engrossed in the surgery. So, nobody noticed the warmer, and what was happening,” said Dr Milind Shirodkar, director, AIMS Hospital.
As the operation progressed, Mr Shirke’s right foot started getting burnt. However, as he was under the influence of anaesthesia, he did not feel it. It was only when the sheets covering him were removed after the surgery was complete that a nurse saw the warmer and Mr Shirke’s badly burnt foot. She immediately removed the warmer and administered first aid.
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River overflows, 40 kids rescued
Dehra Dun : As many as 40 school children were on Sunday rescued after they were caught in the overflowing Dhoodali river here, the police said.
The children of a private school were rescued by police at Premnagar area where they had gone for a picnic, they said. Due to landslides triggered by heavy rains the pilgrimage to Gangotri shrine in Garhwal Himalayas remained suspended for second consecutive day on Sunday. The landslides that hit Rishikesh-Gangotri highway at Karmkund on Saturday, could not be cleared. —PTI