KOCHI: For 62-year-old Manik Ali, who hails from Maldives, a hospital in Kochi has become his home over the past two years. During the period, Ali, a successful marine exporter, was rushed to KIMS Hospital in the city a dozen times. At least on ten occasions, he was admitted in the ICU and was on ventilator support. The businessman who had been suffering from frequent lung infections and ‘low oxygen level,’ walked out of the hospital on October 10 as a completely different man - he no longer suffers from breathlessness and his oxygen level has become normal. He no longer has the fear of getting admitted to hospital.
The change in Ali’s life came through a major surgery performed by renowned cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Nasser Yusuf at KIMS. Back in Maldives, Ali was exposed to the vagaries of the weather and the sea. He had started smoking at a very young age, and at times smoked 20 cigarettes a day, which made him prone to chronic chest infections that required multiple courses of antibiotics. As a long-term effect of all these, his lungs became weak and two-thirds of the left lung got damaged.
The condition was diagnosed as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), with bronchiectasis of the left lung. COPD is a condition wherein the lung becomes weak. It is caused mainly by smoking, pollution and chemical exposure. Bronchiectasis is characterised by damage of lung. At KIMS, Dr Nasser Yusuf and his team explained details of the surgery and its most dreaded complications to Ali and his family. The surgery was performed on September 26.
Ali was taken off ventilator immediately after the surgery and started walking the very next day. The operation lasted six hours, requiring four bottles of blood. The team that performed the surgery include consultant anaesthetist Dr Rajeev K Warrier, pulmonology consultants Dr Paramez A R and Dr Shine Shukoor and nurse Sijo.