Mumbai serial blasts: Right surgeries at the right time

It was a timely operation that saved the leg of Borivli resident Sudhir Jain, 47, who had severe leg injuries.

Like the 34 other bomb blast victims who were brought to Harkisondas hospital, Jain too was bleeding profusely with a severely damaged leg ripped in two parts. Luckily, the ripped part was brought in with him, and the doctors immediately operated on him.

Dr Arun Doshi, the nephrologist who was present at the time of emergency, said, “The situation was very bad at that time. We had patients coming in with legs completely crushed. There was one man on a stretcher with both his legs cut.”

Jain is now recuperating and should be able to walk soon. Of the 13 patients admitted in Harkisondas hospital with orthopaedic injuries, six lost both their legs. “The legs were completely crushed. We had to amputate them to save the patients’ lives,” said Doshi.

While doctors were helpless in a few cases and had to amputate legs, they managed to save many limbs as well. All the victims were given antibiotic injections and painkillers to avoid infection and its spread. Like Jain, Satish Singh, 35, was admitted with head injuries and a ruptured right leg.

“There was upper bone loss and skin loss. Once the CT scan showed that he had no serious head injury, we arrested his bleeding leg and realignment of timb bone was done. He can now move his feet and feel pulsation. Once his injury heals, we will go for plastic surgery, graft bone, as upper third of tibia is missing,” said Dr Rajesh Dharia, orthopaedic surgeon.

Manish Mehta was another lucky victim whose left hand was saved by the doctors. A 32-year-old trader and Borivli resident, he was brought in to the hospital with an almost detached limb, on a motorcycle. “I am very thankful to the doctors of Harkisondas hospital. I don’t remember anything after the blast,” said Mehta.
Mehta was a trader at Zaveri Bazaar who, as per his daily routine, had stepped out for a bite with his friends on Wednesday evening when the blast ripped through the area.

“His muscle was damaged. The main artery supplying blood to the limb was torn apart; nerve was damaged too. We first stitched the artery, and it took us three hours to operate on him, but we are happy that we could save his left hand,” said Dharia.

According to the doctors, rains made their job difficult. “All the patients had contaminated injuries with mud etc. The wounds had to be washed with saline thoroughly before we could take them to operation theatre,” said Doshi.