Firecracker injuries: At least 43 cases reported, 16 in serious condition

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: On the occasion of Deepavali, prominent Eye Hospitals like Minto, Narayana Nethralaya and Sankara have reported around 43 cases of injuries due to firecracker incidents on Monday.

These 43 cases included children from the age 7-15, teenagers and adolescents from 19- 22 and middle aged people. Speaking to News Trail, Mallesh, Resident Medical Officer of Minto Ophthalmic Hospital explained the details behind the 4 cases they had taken in from 8.45pm on Sunday till 12.30 am.

“Two, with serious injuries were treated here. One was an 18 year old male who had lit a ‘Bijili’ cracker, and the effect of the blast ruptured his right eyeball. It is operated on and the doctors doubt whether the vision would remain the same,” he said.

Another serious case, Mallesh explains, is a 10 year old girl from Andhra Pradesh. The girl who was a bystander, had got an epithelial defect in the left eye, which resulted in a traumatic cataract.

“The girl had multiple abrasions, which are scratches in the cornea. We have scheduled for a surgery after 4-5 weeks of conservative management,” added Mallesh.

Two minor cases were treated and sent back, one of them is a 37 year old bystander who got affected due to a ‘Laxmi’ cracker blast, and another a 3.5 year old child getting injured in the cornea due to a Sparkle cracker.

In Sankara Eye Hospital in the east end of the city, 25 cases were reported, in which two of them were serious cases.In Narayana Nethralaya, 22 patients were brought in.

However no severe cases are reported. As of 3.00 pm on Monday, Minto Hospital had taken three cases, in which a pair sustained minor injuries and a 26-year-old man suffered a tear in the white part of his left eye.

The Uttarahalli resident who was a bystander, was affected by a ‘Laxmi’ cracker. Surgery for the man will be administered. The other two cases - an eight year old girl and a 12 year old boy, were brought with red eyes.

They were treated with eye drops and were sent home. In Minto Hospital, a separate ward with a capacity of 15 beds was set up for the treatment of children. Ten beds each have been reserved for women and youth.

The Victoria Hospital has also set up a separate ward to treat burn injuries sustained while bursting crackers other than eyes. Specialist doctors from these hospitals are deployed round the clock.