Bangla man in Saudi Arabia undergoes complex op in Kol
Times of India | 18 February 2025
12 Kolkata: Kolkata doctors came to the rescue of a Bangladesh patient whose oesophagus was extensively injured after he accidentally consumed a highly corrosive liquor. Md Rashid is now recuperating in the city after a major surgery at Manipal Hospitals Mukundapur. Even as Rashid has been discharged from hospital a couple of days ago, he has to wait for about a week to undergo a final follow-up before he goes back home to Sonragoan in Narayanganj.
Sources said, the 30-year-old was an employee of a private firm in Saudi Arabia when about three months ago he accidentally drank the corrosive liquid, causing extensive injury to the oesophagus (food pipe) and respiratory tract, rendering him unable able to swallow either food or liquid. During an initial treatment at a hospital near his work place a pipe was placed in the abdomen.
His respiratory tract was also massively injured making it difficult for him to breathe. After initial treatment he went back to Bangladesh for further treatment. Family members said the complexity of the injury prompted them to bring him to Kolkata.
"His food pipe obstruction started just below the base of the tongue, involving the pharynx. The whole of the oesophagus and the stomach was completely destroyed and strictured," said GI surgeon Sanjay Mondal of Manipal Mukundapur, who examined the patient in the OPD,
The GI surgeon roped in other doctors, including Dhruba Roy, Manish Kumar and Saugata Paul to plan the procedure called Supra major surgery.
During the procedure conducted 10 days ago, a tracheostomy was created to relive him from the respiratory tract obstruction. Since a long length of the food pipe and stomach was destroyed, a long length of large intestine was used to bypass the hypopharynx, oesophagus and the stomach by joining high up in the neck (just below the skull base) at the oropharynx to the proximal small intestine. The segment of large intestine was placed just behind the sternum. The whole operation lasted for about eight hours.
"He is now able to take liquid food as well as semi solids like banana. We intend to carry out a follow-up by the end of this week. He should be able to go back to his home in Bangladesh if we find everything good during the check-up," said Mondal who led the surgical team.