BENGALURU: Though crackers have seen a significant drop in sales in the city, hospitals continue to get flooded with children and adults with eye injuries. After a 25-year-old painter got blinded on Wednesday, a 65-year-old farmer Chowdamma from Malur got blinded in one eye on Thursday.
Chowdamma was hit by a rocket cracker at 9:30 pm outside her house in Kolar district’s Kesargere village. Her nephew Munegowda told Express, “My aunt was standing in front of the house, asking children of the village to go farther and burst crackers as our children were finding it difficult to sleep. Just then a rocket came and hit her right eye. Doctors say chances of salvaging her eye are very less.”
While her husband Venkataramana is also a farmer, they have to pay up the full cost of the surgery as Chowdamma does not have Yeshaswini health card, said Munegowda. “We are a BPL family but since she does not have the health card, we have to pay around Rs 50,000 for the surgery,” he said.
She has been admitted to Narayana Nethralaya in Bommasandra which saw a spike in cases from 11 to 27 across its branches when compared to Thursday’s figures. Shankara Eye Hospital saw four severe cases where surgical intervention will be required to prevent vision loss.Narayana Nethralaya chairman Dr Bhujang Shetty said, “Her cornea is damaged and chances of restoring sight are less.”
Shankara Eye Hospital in Kundalahalli saw 14 eye injuries related to fire crackers as on Friday. Five of them were children. Three men aged between 18 and 36 had severe injuries, said Dr Kaushik Murali, an ophthalmologist at Shankara. “One would need possible retina surgery. Another patient with an intraocular (fluid pressure inside the eye) foreign body would be operated upon on Saturday. Another 11-year-old was admitted with minor injuries,” he said.