Fear of infections looms large

Fear of infections looms large
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, JAN 28: It took just 30 seconds for their lives to be devastated. Most will now have to remain in hospital for at least four weeks, given the nature of injuries -- mostly broken bones and crushed limbs. Doctors here have stated point-blank that the kind of injuries they have suffered will take three to four months to heal and with most having suffered multiple injuries, they face a long struggle on the road to normalcy.

For now, however, fear of infections looms large, since the wounds are dirty, says Dr Arvind Labshetwar, Dean of B.J. Medical College.

Though Emcure Pharmaceuticals, a local pharmaceutical company is providing analgesics and antibiotics worth Rs 10 lakh to help contain infections, the doctors are worried. Army surgeons, who have operated upon 60 patients, have worked on at least 18 cases of severe head injuries. Six are in the Critical Care Unit. ``We have to treat cases where the nerves and blood muscles are damaged. Amputation will be inevitable in some cases,'' says Maj Gen P.R.S. Rathore, Commandant of the Command Hospital here.

``We have discharged other patients to accommodate quake victims. But the government has to take a decision and then transfer them to civil hospitals,'' Rathore said.

Meanwhile, 31 victims were admitted to the Sassoon Hospital here and two others were sent to Mumbai. Four of the victims at the hospital will be operated upon on Monday, Labshetwar said, adding that all they could do was work hard to save them and wait. No wonder then 16-year-old Komal Thakkar, who was found trapped under a wall, now lies in ward number 2 at the hospital and stares vacantly at the ceiling, wondering, what next.