Doctors at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital here fought to save the life of a 7-year-old boy who had suffered extensive burn injuries while playing with crackers more than a month ago.

When the boy was wheeled into the hospital emergency at midnight, about one-third of his body had been burnt with his eyes, nose, mouth, cheek and neck badly scarred. Besides, his chest and abdominal walls, hands and legs were injured while part of the intestine had come out of the abdomen due to perforation. Perforation was also found in the abdominal wall as well as in the stomach.

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Attending doctors stabilized the child with advanced treatment and a thorough investigation was done to assess the extent of injuries.

A team of doctors drawn from the departments of paediatrics, general surgery, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, ophthalmology and radiology was constituted to deal with the case and surgery, though risky considering the extent of injuries suffered, was conducted at the earliest after a large perforation was found in the abdominal wall causing spillage of food particles.

The boy was kept in the burn ICU following surgery and monitored continuously for about a month after which he has been able to sit and walk. “We are happy that our efforts have brought a smile back on the face of the child and his parents,” Dr Antaryami Pradhan, Professor in the department of pediatric surgery, said.

The doctors who constituted the team, besides Dr Pradhan, included Dr J N Senapati, Dr Sonali Mohanty (general surgery), Dr Sudhansu S Patra (pediatric surgery), Dr Sushant Mishra, Dr Rajesh Gantayat (plastic surgery) and Dr Satya S Mohapatra (radiology), Dr Ranjita Acharya, Dr Rohan Nayak, Dr Ashok and Dr Meenal (anaesthesia). The team was ably assisted by pharmacists Ms Sasmita, Mr Pranati, nursing staff Mr Biswaranjan, Ms Pushpalata, Ms Smrutirekha and Mr Toofan.