After spending almost 24 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and a special ward of Joy hospital in Chembur, police constable Vikas Thorbole was on Monday put on a liquid diet.
Thorbole was admitted to the hospital after he was seriously injured during a clash between workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Shiv Sena at Maharashtra Nagar in Trombay on April 24, the city's polling day for the Lok Sabha elections. According to Trombay police, Shiv Sena and MNS workers clashed around 1.30am, accusing each other of distributing cash among voters.
Doctors said Thorbole is responding to the treatment and he will have to be in the hospital for another week. The doctors now are consulting a speech therapist regarding Thorbole's voice.
Dr Roy Patankar, the surgeon who operated Thorbole, said, "When he was brought in, it took us five and a half hours to repair his badly damaged wind pipe and food pipe. He was attacked by a sharp object and the injury on his neck was more than 5cm deep and his wind pipe was cut through."
The two political parties have been trading accusations about the sequence of events and the police investigating the case have been waiting for Thorbole to get better. According to a police officer, Thorbole's statement will provide a clearer picture of what exactly happened on that day.
Giving details of Thorbole's treatment, Dr Patankar said, "We created an artificial route to Thorbole's lungs to help him breathe and to the stomach to help him with feeding. We carried out a CT scan and endoscopy to see whether his wound has properly healed or not. Also, we are consulting a speech therapist to check his voice. We hope that we will able to discharge him within a week."
Doctors said Thorbole will be able to start speaking slowly. Till now, he has been interacting with his family members by writing.
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