All well: 17-year-old set to return home

Seventeen-year-old Vinod Ganesh, one of the 200 kids from Dharavi who fell ill after playing with spurious colour, is now out of danger. He had been admitted to LTMG Sion Hospital, and was critical for three days.

Dr Tripti Trivedi, associate professor of the hospital’s medical intensive care unit (MICU), said, “There is a limit to which we can administer methylene blue to a patient. He was refractory to the treatment. His meth-haemoglobin levels refused to drop below 20 percent. We had to give him exchange transfusion (change his blood) to bring down the levels.”

 “Unlike several others who had come to the hospital, Vinod had consumed something. He was the only one among the 200 on whom the antidote did not work. We are happy that he is now doing well, and will discharge him in few days,” said Dr Sandhya Kamat, dean of LTMG Sion Hospital.

Hritik Trishul (13) was one of the 25 revellers from the Kurla railway colony who reacted adversely to gulal. He was shifted to KEM from Rajawadi Hospital on March 9, and is still in the ICU. Sanjog Trishul, his brother, said, “He is far better now. He eats. He talks.

Hopefully, in the coming days he will be discharged.”
According to doctors, Trishul developed aspiration pneumonia, which occurs when foreign materials are breathed into the lungs. “He didn’t exhibit any met-haemoglobin symptoms. He is doing better, but we will keep him under observation for next three days,” said a senior doctor.