NEW DELHI: This is nothing short of a miracle. After battling death for nearly two months, Chetan Kumar Cheetah, a commandant in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who slipped into coma after he took nine bullets and splinter injuries during a gun battle with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district in February, is back to normal and was discharged from AIIMS on Wednesday.
While fighting terrorists in Bandipora, Cheetah was shot at nine times and also suffered splinter injuries. Even as he collapsed, he kept firing at the terrorists. He was shot in the head and his arms fractured and was in deep coma when he was flown to Delhi and admitted in AIIMS.
Doctors at the trauma centre in AIIMS, where 45-year-old Cheetah was treated said that his upper limbs were fractured and his right eye ruptured when he was brought into the hospital. ''He is fit to be discharged,'' they said, adding that his GCS Score, a test done to gauge the severity of brain injury was M3. Now, his score is M6 and all his vitals are stable,'' they said.
Three soldiers and one militant were killed in the fierce gun battle in Hajin area of Bandipora district of Kashmir on February 14, where Cheetah got injured. About 15 more security personnel were injured.
A visibly elated Uma Singh, Cheetah's wife, said: ''I am very proud of what Chetan has done. He is progressively improving. He is fine now. His penchant for fitness and strong will power has brought him back. I always knew he would recover.''
A resident of Delhi, she said that though Cheetah would call her at a particular time everyday, he did not call her up on the encounter day. ''I knew something was wrong. Later, I called up the control room and it was then that I got to know that he was injured,'' she said. The couple have two school-going children.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, who paid a visit to the hospital to see Cheetah, described it as a miracle and victory of will power. ''He is doing fine and I thank the doctors. It was difficult to imagine him back to life. He is a very brave officer and his will power brought him back to life. I told him (Cheetah) that I want to see him back in his uniform. The government will extend every possible help to the brave soldier,'' he said.
Professor Anurag Srivastava of the department of Surgery at AIIMS, said that both Cheetah's arms were fractured and he had multiple facial wounds. ''His blood pressure was low and we gave him drugs to stabilise it after which he was shifted to ICU. The first surgery was performed in Srinagar itself and that saved his life. We had apprehensions if we would be able to save his eyesight but we did our best. His right eye is ruptured,'' he said.
Dr Amit Gupta, professor of trauma surgery and critical care at the centre, described the recovery as a miracle. ''The recovery and the pace with which it happened is no less than a miracle,'' he said.
Immediately after the encounter, the CRPF commandant was first taken to military hospital in Srinagar where he was initially treated. However, due to his comatose state, he was airlifted to the AIIMS trauma centre. The doctors said that within 24 hours of admission, surgery was conducted to remove a portion of the skull to reduce intra-cranial pressure. Cheetah was put on heavy antibiotics to reduce infection and his wounds were repeatedly cleaned, doctors said.
After his condition stabilised, different teams operated separately to treat the injuries. ''Ophthalmologists took care of the splinter wound in the left eye but the right eye could not be repaired. Simultaneously, orthopaedics worked on the fracture in the limbs while critical care experts planned his antibiotic therapy,'' doctors said.