Fireworks have taken a toll on several families during Deepawali festivities, robbing their wards of their vision.
Seven-year-old Raju’s joys knew no bounds when he was about to light a cracker. But the next moment, his experiment of bursting the cracker inside a bottle proved costly as it burst and the glass splinters went straight into his eyes, severely damaging his eyeballs. He was admitted to the Minto Hospital in Chamrajpet on Saturday night.
Now, after 24 hours of treatment, doctors at the hospital have given up hope of the boy regaining his sight. Raju’s parents, hailing from Chikkabalapur taluk, are daily wage workers and are yet to recover from the shock of the tragedy. This is just one of the several incidents of the festival taking a toll on the people.
“He is suffering from a cornea tear. The glass pieces which pierced into his eyes had gone straight through the eye lens, resulting in poor recovery,” said Dr Bharthi, consultant, Minto Hospital. Apart from Raju’s case, Minto Hospital registered 13 more cases on Saturday.
In another incident, a seven-year-old girl, Tejaswini K, a second grader of St Mary’s School on Tumkur Road, lost 60% of her vision, for a fault which was not hers. One of her neighbours, who carelessly threw a cracker, left her with partial blindness.
Tejaswini is at present undergoing treatment at the Narayana Nethralaya. Doctors said that she has multiple complications ranging from corneal edema (swelling of cornea), iridodialysis (tearing away of the iris) and hyphema (blood in the front chamber of the eye).
“Post injury, her vision is limited only to 40 mm mercury, which means, she can only view hand movement. She has also developed an abnormality called choroidal rupture,” said Dr Narendra K, glaucoma consultant, Narayana Nethralaya.
Another Deepawali victim admitted at the Narayana Nethralaya was nine-year-old Aashique, a resident of Vidyaranyapura. He has also suffered partial loss of sight after bursting a cracker.
Sanjana, an innocent victim of the celebrations, was admitted to the Shekar Nethralaya Hospital after a rogue cracker hit her when she was standing at the balcony. Sources in the hospital said that both parents of the victim were doctors. “An immediate operation was performed as the accident led to a cornea tear. She is now recovering gradually,” said Dr Jyothy Deepak, administrator, Shekar Nethralaya.
With Deepawali festivities coming to an end, the festival has left many families in tears. The number of firework-related incidents in the city has risen to 75 on Sunday afternoon from 60 on Saturday. In most of the incidents, children below 10 years have been the sufferers.
Shekhar Nethralaya alone reported 11 new cases since Saturday, all dealing with minor injuries, while Minto Hospital reported five new cases, and Narayan Nethralaya reported 12 new cases including three major cases.
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