Vivek Sarje / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped.
A 14-year-old boy whose eye was ruptured by a firecracker on Diwali night will have to leave Hamidia Hospital for the surgery that could save his sight, because the capital's biggest government hospital does not offer it.
The blast tore the sclera, the white outer layer of the eye, and drove fragments of gunpowder deep inside, ophthalmologist Dr S S Kubre said. Doctors operated for about an hour that night to stitch the tear. Blood has since filled the eye, a cataract has formed, and particles remain inside, keeping the risk of infection high.
He now needs a vitrectomy, surgery on the retina and the back of the eye. Hamidia does not have that facility, Dr Kubre told ETV Bharat, so the boy will be referred to a specialised centre. Free Press Journal reported that doctors were considering AIIMS Delhi and put his chance of regaining vision at about 10 per cent. A decision was to follow the removal of his dressing on Tuesday.
He was one of five people treated at Hamidia for firecracker eye injuries on Diwali night, among more than a dozen firecracker cases the hospital saw in 24 hours. A seven-year-old girl had fine particles lodged around her pupil; they were removed the same night and she can see. Three others were discharged after treatment.
Hamidia is the teaching hospital of Gandhi Medical College. That a child injured in the city must be sent elsewhere for retina surgery shows a gap in what the state's main hospital in Bhopal can do when it matters most.
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