The X Ray showing the idol in the neck.
BELAGAVI
Devotees with blind beliefs and practices can sometimes land in trouble and in one such incident, a 45-year-old male who had swallowed a brass idol would have lost his life, had it not been for a team of doctors at KLES Dr Prabhakar Kore hospital.
A patient was admitted to the hospital with an alleged history of swallowing a foreign body and complaints of breathing difficulty, throat pain and painful swallowing.
He had shown a local doctor and had an X-ray of his chest with neck that showed a brass idol of Lord Balakrishna in his neck.
Later, detailed history revealed that he used to keep the idol sunk in water overnight and drink the holy water the next day morning.
He claims to have swallowed the brass idol and was rushed to the emergency surgery ward.
It was a challenging case as part of the idol was stuck in the food pipe causing suffocation. After great difficulty and manoeuvring, the entire idol was finally removed by endoscopy through the mouth with immediate relief from the symptoms.
A team of young doctors Dr Priti Hajare and Dr Vinita Metgudmath with Anaesthetist Dr Chaitanya Kamat performed this procedure.
