KOLKATA: Three days ago, six-month-old Taufiq Mullik was rushed from Murshidabad to Kolkata with a nail stuck in his windpipe. On the eve of Eid, doctors removed the two-and-a-half-inch nail through a rigid bronchoscopy — a non-surgical procedure — and sent the baby home.
In the afternoon on June 13, Taufiq’s uncle Alauddin Shiekh heard him crying. He noticed froth around the baby’s mouth that had streaks of blood in it. Panicking, he immediately alerted other family members.
In the afternoon on June 13, Taufiq’s uncle Alauddin Shiekh heard him crying. He noticed froth around the baby’s mouth that had streaks of blood in it. Panicking, he immediately alerted other family members.
When they realized that something was stuck in Taufiq’s throat, his grandmother tried to extract the nail with her fingers. But she drove it deeper. The family then decided to take him to a hospital.
After alleged refusals by five hospitals, including four government set-ups, the boy was finally admitted in AMRI Hospital Mukundapur around 5pm on June 14, almost 36 hours after he swallowed the nail. “The child was coughing and was in great breathing distress. He was immediately wheeled into the operation theatre,” said Dr Bichitrabhanu Sarkar, paediatric intensivist at AMRI Mukundapur.
By then the nail had travelled down the trachea and was lodged in the right bronchus. Fortunately, it had not caused any significant perforation. “We extracted the nail using an endoscope through a procedure called rigid bronchoscopy. The most tricky issue was giving anaesthesia to an infant with a compromised airway,” said Dr Anindya Chattopadhyay, consultant paediatric surgeon.
Doctors said if the nail had stayed in longer, it could have caused death. Taufiq was kept in the PICU through the night. Though doctors wanted to keep him for another day, his parents wanted to go back home for Eid. Doctors agreed to discharge him on Friday after reviewing Taufiq’s param.
SOURCE: TOI
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