As the sun was setting on the peripheral township of Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, Girish, 12, (not real name) climbed up to the seventh floor flat after playing. There was a grilled cover to the eighth floor verandah of his house. Curiously, he looked out and saw an electrical wire dangling in the air outside. The boy went close to the grill to look up what this object was. Suddenly, his chest with the poly T-shirt got stuck in the iron grill. He cried out in pain and could not disconnect himself from the grill.
A fire broke out in the grill because Girish was caught in the arc of a 1500-kV high tension electric current which emanated and burnt him.
Despite his shrieks, no one went near him due to the emanating fire and fumes. A neighbour, who had the presence of mind, wrapped Girish in a blanket and pulled him on to the floor.
Girish sustained 70% electric burns. Then started his journey to Chennai in an ambulance. A long journey — crying in pain — it was with parents shedding tears. The journey was gruesome to the poor child, that too without any medicine for pain relief.
In Chennai, they went to a large hospital which refused to admit the boy since it could not treat the burns. The ambulance went to another modern children's hospital. It said it could not admit children above 18 as per directions. The hospital disbelieved his age and refused admission because he was well-built and tall for his age.
The child was finally brought to the Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital at midnight. Poor Girish got admitted to the ICU.
A handsome boy, Girish looked like a charred piece of wood. One look at him, my body and mind trembled. No hope was given to the crying parents, but the duty of the doctor started. After 14 serious operations, infusion of 17 bottles of blood and prolonged convalescence, Girish emerged as a human being. But the quality of life will improve only after many more sittings of reconstructive surgery.
Girish has been discharged. To cover up his deformities, we gave him white pyjamas & kurta and a pair of spectacles.
He walked out of my ward, hated me because I gave him the maximum pain. But, at last, he realised that I was the caregiver. He came to my room walking clumsily and simply said — I am alright, thanks.
A formidable challenge to us doctors, Girish's recovery gave us a great sense of satisfaction — due to the long arm of God.
But whose fault was it?
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There are three kinds of electric burns. One is where direct contact with electricity occurs like touching a hot electric iron. Tissue damage occurs at the spot. This is called contact-burn.
Next is an electric flash burn. For example, in a welding centre, electric flash occurs and when it touches the skin, it gets burnt. For all purposes, this will be like flame burns.
The third variety is where an object which has high tension electricity is held by the hand or touched accidently. An example is a child which climbs a tree to retrieve his kite on a wet Diwali day. The kite must have been stuck in an overhead high tension cable. Such burns always have a wound of entry and a wound of exit. The wound of exit could be the feet or opposite hand or head, whichever area that comes into contact with the ground. This type of burn is very deep and has serious outcome, because the current passes through the cardiac muscle, which may suddenly stop.
Preventive steps
In any country, electrical maintenance is a top priority area. There should not be any lapse in this system. If an accident occurs, technical experts must investigate thoroughly and rectify the situation, immediately.
Had there been proper maintenance, Girish would not have suffered the gruesome accident. He only looked at the grill, not touched it, yet he suffered. Whose fault was it?
(The writer is Chief of Plastic Surgery & Burns, Chairperson, The CHILDS Trust Medical Research Foundation, Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, Chennai. Her email id is kmr_mathangi@hotmail.com)
