Polba mishap: One child shows marked improvement

Kolkata: Dibyangshu Bhagat, one of the two injured children admitted to the SSKM after meeting with a road accident in Hooghly's Polba has shown significant improvement during treatment on Monday.

The health condition of the other victim Rishabh Singh did not improve despite relentless efforts by the doctors. Both of them have been stated to be in stable condition but critical. The 7-member medical board constituted by the hospital held two meetings on Monday for discussing on their health condition.

"Bhagat's health condition has improved and he may be taken out of the ventilation in the next 48 hours. Bhagat has been responding to the treatment. There is no report of infection being spread in his body. Singh's health condition did not improve much. It did not deteriorate either. Six units of blood transfusions were done in Singh in the past 24 hours as the haemoglobin level in his blood dropped. His heart and lungs are responding. He has been kept under ventilation as well. No infection was traced in his body," a senior official of the SSKM said.

According to hospital sources, the doctors are still applying extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) on Singh to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream.

The system provides heart-lung bypass support outside the patient's body. It helps in maintaining the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body when lungs do not work properly.

Singh had a huge amount of muddy water accumulated in his lungs when he was admitted to the hospital. The carbon dioxide level was low in the patient. Singh has been kept at the Critical Care Unit of the CTVS department of the hospital while Bhagat has been undergoing treatment at the Trauma Care Centre of the hospital. Both of them are under round the clock monitoring.