Bengaluru: 3 hospitals see 33 cases of firecracker injury

BENGALURU: Firecracker mishaps have ballooned in the city with 33 people turning up at three hospitals with eye injuries and burns till Tuesday noon.
While Minto Ophthalmic Hospital and Sankara Eye Hospital saw 15 cases each, Aster CMI treated three patients. Doctors said they are bracing for more patients as bursting of crackers is expected to peak on Wednesday. They added that reckless cracker bursting has resulted in bystanders sustaining injuries.
From Saturday to Tuesday noon, Minto witnessed 15 cases of eye injury, of which nine were inflicted on bystanders. The hospital began treating cases of cracker-related injuries well before the festival began. Manish (name changed), a 10-year-old boy from JP Nagar, went back to see if the rocket cracker lit by his younger brother was working, but it exploded close to his face. The boy suffered burns on his face and injured his left eye, and was rushed to Victoria Hospital on Saturday.
Bohara, his father, recalled how his son came into the house bawling in pain and with blood flowing from his lip and nose. The boy was later taken to Minto to get his eye checked.
Madan, an 18-year-old vegetable vendor from Srinagar, sustained injuries in his right eye. "I closed my shop and was going home when a group of children started bursting crackers on the roadside," he said. It was then that a spark landed in his eye and he rushed to the hospital. "My eyesight is still blurred and I have been given an ointment to heal."
Meanwhile, Sankara Eye Hospital doctors said six of the 15 patients they received were bystanders. Six of the injured were also aged below 10. "Two of the cases we saw were grievous - one, an eight-year-old child and the other, 24 years old. Primary surgery has been performed in both cases.
Very soon, they'll require multiple surgeries," said Dr Pallavi Joshi, consultant-cornea, ocular surface and refractive surgery, Sankara. "Last year, we saw only around eight cases. However, in just two days, we've already seen 15-16 cases and the number is likely to increase in the next 3-4 days."
Aster CMI Hospital treated three cases of cracker injury on Monday night. Two men came in with burns on their hands and one had to be operated on. The third patient, a four-year-old, suffered a minor eye injury. The adults were injured while lighting up a flower pot (firecracker) while holding it in their hands. The child was a bystander injured by a sparkler cracker.