2 months after mishap,taekwondo player still in coma

“He has been in a coma for over two months now. Just a week ago,he opened his eyes and we tried to show him the gold medals he had won at state-level competitions,his identity card as a final year law graduate from Yashwantrao Chavan College in Karad. We even got his friends here hoping Vishal would regain his memory,” says father Shivaji,a Class-III employee of Zilla Parishad in Karad. After two months,he has opened his eyes,but only to stare vacantly at the blank wall of the hospital ward.

“It was a freak accident as a truck hit Vishal’s friend’s bike while he was returning home,” recalls his mother Sanjeevani. Speaking of their financial difficulties,post accident,she said that their son’s medical bills have already risen to as high as Rs 13 lakh. “We still have to get our elder daughter married this year,” she added,while waiting patiently by Vishal’s bedside as the speech therapist used a set of exercises to make him talk.

The accident had led to a fracture of the long bone in Vishal’s leg and also caused fat embolism that damaged his brain,Dr Kapil Zirpe,head of the neuro-trauma intensive care unit at Ruby Hall Clinic,said.

Like Zirpe,trauma surgeons are increasingly worried about the high number of road accident victims being admitted to various hospitals and the resultant complications that lead to high morbidity among the patients.

“Unlike other large cities,we have very few cases of bullet injuries,but cases of youngsters getting critically injured in road traffic accidents are increasing,followed by assault injuries. We see at least five to six trauma patients on a daily basis and in the past one week we had four to five cases of RTA (road traffic accidents) that had complications arising out of long bone fractures that cause fat embolism. Fat embolism can be traumatic and occurs in almost 90 per cent of all patients with severe injuries to bones,” says Zirpe.

“What happens is that the fat globules from the bone’s marrow disperse during such a severe accident and hence it is crucial that the patient is properly stabilised before being transported to a hospital for treatment,” Zirpe adds.

“Early immobilisation of fractures reduces incidence of fat embolism syndrome and the risk is further reduced by operative correction. If the patient has been travelling a long distance,he or she needs to be properly immobilised so that the syndrome can be prevented,” Dr Chetan Pradhan,head of the trauma unit at Sancheti hospital told Newsline.

He also pointed out that on a daily basis,there are at least five serious trauma cases admitted to the hospital. Last year,the trauma unit at the Sancheti hospital,which also receives referrals from other places apart from Pune,conducted 3,500 major trauma surgeries.