On the day when the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts shook Hyderabad and Osmania General Hospital (OGH) was overrun by blast victims and relatives, an accident victim Durgesh, needing nothing short of a miracle to survive, was admitted to the OGH casualty.
Durgesh’s abdomen was totally crushed when he was trapped between a tractor, which was backing up, and a wall while working in a mill in his native Nandikotkur mandal, Kurnool district on February 21.
The 30-year-old labourer, quite incredibly, survived an emergency five-hour surgery taken up by doctors on the night of the blasts, endured ventilator support for 60 days, ICU support for 100 days and later underwent five complicated surgeries in between. Durgesh’s condition was so critical that on a few occasions, the doctors took up abdomen surgery in the hospital’s Respiratory ICU while he was on ventilator.
“When he was admitted, his intestines were torn apart, infected and had holes everywhere. We washed his entrails, cleaned the abdomen cavity and repaired the intestines. But, within 48 hours, he developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) as his lungs failed. He was kept on ventilator for 60 days and subsequently underwent repeated surgeries of the abdomen,” Dr. B. Nagender, the general surgeon who did the surgery on February 21 said while interacting with press persons here on Friday.
Infected intestines
This was not all. Owing to internal pressure, infection and other reasons, Durgesh suffered bowel leaks, the stitches in the abdomen and intestines gave away frequently.
“We reconstructed the whole abdomen cavity. There were occasions when the patient had severe bowel leaks because of infected intestines. Our nurses and class IV employees supported the patient all the way,” said Head of Anaesthesia, Dr. C. G. Raghuram. OGH surgeons point out that the entire treatment if done in a private corporate hospital would cost up to Rs. 10 lakh. “We have provided all the services for just Rs. 35,000. We are proud of our doctors and support staff who helped Durgesh to survive,” OGH Superintendent Dr. Ram Dass said.
