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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.”

The Celebrity Family

Priya Dutt

‘Will she or won’t she?’ That was the question on the minds of Congress workers and voters until it was announced that Bandra West will not see Priya Dutt as the Congress candidate these elections. But the former MP is seen in public, once again, campaigning for the party’s candidate.


Priya is a two term Member of Parliament from the Mumbai North East constituency and chose to retreat into a sabbatical from politics. It cannot be called retirement because it’s hard to tell when politicians will retire. She contested her first elections in 2005, following the death of her father, Sunil Dutt, who was the incumbent MP at that time and got re-elected in 2009. She lost two subsequent elections and didn’t contest after that.


Priya’s desire to be her father’s successor in public life and work was evident when she accompanied Sunil Dutt on the mahashanti padyatra from Mumbai to Amritsar in 1987 and worked extensively to provide relief to members of the Muslim community during the 1992 riots that set Mumbai afire. Soft-spoken and affable, Bandra-bred Priya holds a post-graduate degree in television production from a New York-based institute. Priya’s debut in politics met with intense media attention given her famous family. Her parents were senior members of the Congress party while her brother Sanjay Dutt is a movie star.


Sunil Dutt, a popular movie star, joined the Congress in 1984 and contested the parliamentary elections. Given his stardom and social work, he won the elections and was elected to the Lok Sabha for five terms until his death at the age of 75. Before his electoral debut, Dutt was appointed as the sheriff of Mumbai which is a titular post. In 1987, when militancy and violence in Punjab was on the boil, Dutt and his daughter Priya undertook a march, the Mahashanti Padyatra from Mumbai to Amritsar to establish communal harmony.


In 2004, he was sworn in as the minister for youth affairs and sports in the Manmohan Singh government but couldn’t hold the position for too long. He passed away in 2005. His wife and movie star Nargis Dutt was also a member of the Congress and the duo is known to have dedicatedly worked with the marginalised sections of society. The popular family faced turmoil in the 1990s when Sanjay Dutt was arrested for possessing banned weapons.

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