The apex court’s dahi handi judgment restricting the height of human pyramids to 20 feet and not allowing minors to participate in it may have stirred angry political reactions, but doctors at major public hospitals said the court could have been stricter to bring down injuries and to make organisers more accountable.
Doctors say major hospitals, including Sion, KEM, Nair and JJ, record at least 40 cases of dahi handi-related injuries every year. Last year, Mumbai had recorded one death and 129 injuries.
“But we have seen that organisers do not provide safety measures. The people who participate practise for hardly eight to 10 days prior to the festival. When they fall and sustain injuries, their friends bring them to the hospital; the organisers don’t,” said a doctor at KEM Hospital, that gets a chunk of the cases given some of the major celebrations are in Central Mumbai.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fractures, head and spine injuries are among the serious injuries sustained at the festival. But then some injuries are life-impacting. “We have seen injuries that have made people paraplegic or quadriplegic,” said Dr. Satish Dharap, professor of surgery and in charge of the trauma unit at Sion Hospital.
Dr. Dharap said it isn’t just the players at risk but also bystanders, adding those participating in the human pyramid often take care when a person falls.
“When children fall, people catch them, so we don’t see as many injuries among minors as we see in adults. And apart from major fractures of the head and spine, we also see limb fractures and blunt traumas on the abdomen and chest. Deaths too have been recorded,” said a doctor in the casualty of a government hospital. He said while the 20-feet height restriction is welcome, a fall from that height too can be fatal. The doctors said celebrating festivals is fine, but not at the cost of life. Sion Hospital had mapped injuries across hospitals four years ago and recorded deaths and injuries. “It (such injuries) is a concern because it is preventable,” Dr. Dharap said.
ADVERTISEMENT