Bengaluru: Based on a suggestion by an ambulance driver, 28-year-old Manjunath took his ailing father to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, as he complained of breathlessness and heaviness in the heart.
The 60-year-old man from Anekal was brought to the hospital on June 6 with acute respiratory distress and dehydration.
"He came in with post-pneumonia complication, but externally it was difficult to know that he had 2,000 ml of pus accumulated in his pleural cavity. We went ahead with the complaint which was of acute respiratory distress," said Dr Shashidhar Buggi, former director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Disease, who had admitted Krishnappa and after being diagnosed of empyema.
"The operation took twenty minutes and saved him of an acute emergency, which if not treated on time could have proved fatal. Empyema remains the most common complication of pneumonia and an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide," Dr Buggi said.
Although treatable, empyema is a potentially deadly accumulation of pus around the lungs, occurring most commonly as a complication of pneumonia. Dr Buggi and his team did a tube thoracostomy and after surgery he was shifted to the emrgency ward for observation.
Luckily, for Krishnappa the surgery along with the hospital stay was free of cost as the cost was covered under the SC/ST card. The same procedure at any private hospital, including the stay, would have required Rs 5-10 lakh. "I was clueless as I did not want to take the risk with my father's health and I feel lucky that my friend's suggestion worked out," Manjunath said.
