CUTTACK: Five months after the terrible train tragedy at Bahanaga, Bajrangi Thakur (20) of Banka district in Bihar received a new lease of life at the SCB Medical College and Hospital here. Thakur, a resident of Katoria in the Banka district of Bihar, was the last person to be discharged after treatment on Thursday. He worked as a laborer in Bengaluru and was traveling from Yeshvanthpur to Howrah on June 2, 2023.
Thakur was unconscious when he was rushed to FM Medical College and Hospital in Balasore. The next day he was referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital and admitted to the ICU of Trauma unit. While his left leg was completely crushed, a team of doctors treating him had opined he might not survive. Three days after Thakur was admitted to the ICU, his condition deteriorated with septicemia and toxemia developing in his injuries.
While Thakur had suffered multiple fractures, his muscles and nerves were also severely damaged. After his left leg was amputated from below the knee, he was transferred to the plastic and reconstructive surgery department and admitted under Prof Arun Kumar Choudhury. But Thakur’s woes were not yet over as the bone was exposed and also infected and the muscles gangrened. On June 13, the wound was debrided and the amputated stump was covered by a muscle slap and skin graft. The injury to his head which left his skull exposed was also covered with a slap.
Associate professor of the orthopedics department, Dr Tapas Kumar Panigrahi, was then consulted to take up the case for correction of contracture of Thakur’s left limb. “While the patient’s condition had improved with the administration of blood and antibiotics, a below-knee prosthesis with the shoe was fitted which was cosmetically matching with the right leg. The cost of the prosthesis was around Rs 1 lakh. The patient is now able to walk and perform his daily ablutions while sitting and standing,” said Prof Choudhury.
Thakur who requires a little more physiotherapy has been advised to consult a psychiatrist to help him wipe out the terrible memories of the accident, Dr. Choudhury said. Speaking to media persons, Bajrangi expressed his gratitude to the doctors of SCB and the state government for giving him a new lease of life.