TIRUCHY: On Monday, seven-year-old Kalingaraj was playing with the coin which his father had given him as pocket money. The boy put the coin in his mouth and unwittingly swallowed it. Kalingaraj almost paid the price for his act.
On seeing Kalingaraj struggling, his father Annathurai checked his son. Alarmed over his condition, he took him to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) where for the first time performed a critical endoscopic procedure to save the boy on Wednesday.
The procedure was carried out with the help of the Rs 35-lakh endoscopy machine recently installed in the hospital. Dr Yeganathan, Medical Superintendent and Surgery Department head, MGMGH, said, “A preliminary medical examination revealed the coin with a diameter of 25 mm was firmly stuck in the boy’s upper oesophagus. Since their was a chance the coin could rupture the oesophagus internally, a delicate surgical procedure was required to remove the coin.”
He added that as the coin was blocking the oesophagus, the boy could not swallow tablets or food. His medicine had to be administered by the medical team through his veins.
Dr Arshiya Begum, Dean (in-charge), MGMGH, said, “Earlier, such cases would be referred to Thanjavur or Madurai government hospitals as we lacked facilities for such minute operations. But recently, under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, a special endoscopic machine was installed in the hospital.”