Teen operated ‘blind’ at DDU slips into coma

The 16-year-old boy who was operated for head injuries without the mandatory CT Scan report at DDU Hospital on Friday, has slipped into a coma. Doctors attending to him told Newsline that they expected him to return to consciousness hours after the surgery, but he was not showing any spontaneous eye movement or responding properly to pain stimuli.

It has been four days since the procedure.

The hospital's CT Scan machine has not been functioning for the past few months, as the "suppliers are fighting some court case". On Sunday, Newsline reported that a few components of the machines need replacement, and the "supply has been refused until payments are made".

On Friday evening, the hospital operated on Dharam Prakash, a student of Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Mongolpuri, without any confirmed diagnosis.

The neurosurgeon who performed the operation, Dr Subodh Gupta, said: "We expected to shift him out of the ICU on Saturday. But since he has not returned to consciousness till now, we may need to conduct a CT Scan to confirm our original diagnosis, (and) ascertain the extent of brain damage."

He said they will probably conduct the test in a "private facility in the locality", so the patient is not required to be taken to Central Delhi — where the nearest government hospitals providing CT Scans are located.

Dr Gupta said Dharam had been operated upon on the basis "of our clinical diagnosis, but confirmation can only be made through a CT Scan".

Doctors are also considering tracheostomy, inserting an oxygen tube in his breathing tract.

"There has been some narrowing of the respiratory tract, so after we get a CT Scan report, we will consider this option," a senior doctor said.

Dharam was taken off ventilator support for three hours on Saturday, but since there was reportedly no sign of eye movement, he was put back on life support.

... contd.

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