Lesson from Kerala floods : Human activities, climate change has disastrous effects on environment Sagaya Fernando Mumbai: 19 October 2021 Overexploitation of natural resources and haphazard development by humans has led to climate change, resulting in long-lasting consequences on the environment. This is increasing health hazards and natural disasters, and more, day by day. The torrential flooding being witnessed recently in the state of Kerala in India is a prime example of this, say many experts. This is not the first time that Kerala, a state of 34 million people, has been devastated by floods. It saw the worst floods in a century in 2018 when severe rains caused flash floods and landslides, killing nearly 500 people and leaving a million homeless. The following year, more than 125 people were killed in flash floods and landslides across the state. More than 50 were killed in August last year after landslides struck the hilly Munnar region. The latest spell of torrential
Doctors save man choking on live fish that slithered into his mouth
Sagaya Fernando
Mumbai: 26 April 2020
60-year-old Kadalaparambil Krishnan, suffering from
speech impairment since young, has been fishing in the freshwater canal near
his house at Edakkazhiyur near the town of Chavakkad in coastal Kerala, India,
since childhood. On 21st April, it was like any other day for him
after a netting a catch of karimeen (Pearl
Spot) fish. While picking the catch from the net, he suddenly collapsed on to
the ground. It was gathered later that, while collecting the fishes from the
net, he was holding onto the live fish by his teeth while reaching out to
gather the other fishes caught in the net, when the fish slipped from his teeth
and went deep into his throat.
When people standing in the vicinity rushed to his
help, unable to speak he motioned his hands towards his mouth and that’s when they
realized that a live fish had slithered deep into his mouth and he was choking
on it. Krishnan’s son and son-in-law who were informed about the incident put him
on a motorbike and rushed to the nearest hospital at Chavakkad, but the doctors
there referred him to a better equipped Amala Institute of Medical Sciences
located in Thrissur, about 25 kms away.
“Krishnan was gasping for breath and was in a serious
condition when he was brought to our hospital,” informed ENT specialist and Associate
Professor Dr Arjun G Menon of Amala Hospital who attended on the patient.
He further added, “There was
no time to shift the patient to an operation theatre as he was gasping when he
reached our hospital casualty, and so we decided to conduct the extraction of
the fish from his throat without any further delay.”
“Luckily
for Krishnan, somewhere there was space for air entry hence did not die.
The brain is extremely sensitive to the complete lack of oxygen for even 6 to 8
minutes,” said he.
“The extraction procedure lasted less than 10 minutes
wherein the entire karimeen fish was
pulled out of the patient’s throat and we were able to save Krishnan’s life,”
said Dr Menon.
“It is a rare incident, and the timely medical help
saved his life,” said he.
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