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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Surgery saves boy who gulped tiny LED bulb

Mumbai : In a bizarre development, a small boy from Kolhapur swallowed a tiny LED light bulb a few months ago that got stuck deep in his...

Surgery saves boy who gulped tiny LED bulb

Mumbai : In a bizarre development, a small boy from Kolhapur swallowed a tiny LED light bulb a few months ago that got stuck deep in his lung causing huge trauma and emotional stress for his family, officials said.   When the unusual case was referred to the Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre (JHRC), a team of medicos successfully extricated the foreign object lodged in the three-and-half-year-old boy’s chest.   Recounting the remarkable feat, a JHRC official said the child, Aarav Patil was reported to be suffering from severe breathing difficulties and incessant coughing for almost three months.   Doctors treating him at his home town initially mistook it for pneumonia and subjected him to multiple courses of antibiotics and other medicines, but there was improvement in the boy’s condition.   Subsequently, he was taken for advanced tests, examinations and a CT Scan which revealed the shocker – a metallic object was sitting inside the boy’s left bronchus, partially blocking the airway.   More tests identified the offending object – it was a LED bulb from a toy car – a development so rare that even seasoned doctors described it as a ‘one in a million case’.   Though doctors in Kolhapur attempted to retrieve the foreign body through flexible bronchoscopy - a minimally invasive procedure - the attempts proved to be unsuccessful.   As Aarav’s condition appeared to deteriorate, his desperate family rushed him to JHRC and he was referred to a team of specialist doctors.   After studying his case and examining Aarav, the medical team comprising thoracic surgeon Dr. Vimesh Rajput, ENT surgeon Dr. Divya Prabhat and Dr. Anurag Jain discovered that the bulb had not only blocked the bronchus but had also embedded itself in the surrounding tissues of the lung tissue, making its removal extremely challenging.   A rigid bronchoscopy conducted further confirmed the severity of the obstruction. Left with no other option, the doctors decided to opt for a mini thoracotomy — a delicate surgery involving a 4-centimeter incision in the chest.   “This was one of the rarest cases we’ve encountered. The bulb was lodged in such a way that conventional methods could not retrieve it. Through careful planning and teamwork, we managed to safely remove the object by a mini thoracotomy and restored Aarav’s lung function,” explained Dr. Rajput.   Emphasising how such cases are ignored, Dr. Prabhat pointed out that chronic cough or breathing issues are often dismissed as common pneumonia or even asthma.   “However, such persistent symptoms must always be investigated thoroughly, especially through early detection and imaging which can make all the difference to the patient,” she averred.   JHRC CMO Dr. Milind Khadke said, “The foreign body aspiration in kids is far more common that parents may realise but quick intervention is critical to prevent long-term medical complications.”

Poll Sentinel

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

As India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar faces a daunting political landscape ahead of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections. In the former state particularly, where the electorate is polarized and major parties like Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are fractured, Kumar’s leadership will be tested like never before. His stewardship of the Election Commission (EC) has drawn scrutiny, but he has remained resolute in defending the integrity of the electoral process.


Kumar’s resolve came under the spotlight after the Congress party, defeated in last week’s Haryana Assembly elections, raised questions over the functioning of EVMs, particularly about the state of their batteries. The CEC dismissed the allegations with a rare blend of technical precision and disdain for unfounded claims.


Under Kumar’s leadership, the EC has continuously worked to demystify the functionality of EVMs. Ahead of the Lok Sabha, Kumar, deploying humour in the form of Urdu poetry, called upon political parties to maintain decorum even in the heat of the battle while emphasizing the robustness and security of EVMs.


Yet, while Kumar’s ability to manage technical disputes over voting machines is a hallmark of his leadership, he faces challenges of a different kind in Maharashtra. The schism within the Shiv Sena and the NCP has created a complex battlefield. On one side is Uddhav Thackeray’s faction and on the other is the breakaway group led by Eknath Shinde, which enjoys the backing of the BJP. Similarly, Sharad Pawar’s NCP is fragmented, with his nephew Ajit Pawar aligning with the ruling party. This division has raised concerns about how symbols and party identities will be handled in the electoral process.


The EC faced flak from Thackeray and Pawar senior after the poll panel was accused of doing the bidding of the ruling BJP in awarding the party name and poll symbols of both the Shiv Sena and the NCP to the rebel factions led by CM Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.


A recent flashpoint involved NCP (Sharad Pawar)’s plea for greater visibility of their election symbol, a man blowing a trumpet, on EVM ballot units. Kumar granted this request but declined to freeze the symbol, thus balancing transparency with pragmatism.


In a country where technology, elections, and politics often intersect in contentious ways, Kumar’s most daunting challenge will not be handling machines but managing perception. The increasing prevalence of deepfakes and AI-driven disinformation campaigns could further complicate the EC’s mission of ensuring free and fair elections. Kumar is well aware of these dangers, having issued warnings against malicious narratives prior to the Lok Sabha elections.


Kumar’s leadership has been a mix of methodical rigor and principled firmness. But as Maharashtra goes to polls, he will need every ounce of that resolve. Far more than EVMs, ensuring a smooth election in one of India’s most politically fractured states will demand the Election Commission, under Kumar’s watchful eye, maintain its most precious asset: public trust.

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