Bengaluru: Despite awareness drives regarding precautions to be taken while bursting crackers, the city’s eye hospitals witnessed a steady stream of patients, mostly minors, with some sustaining serious injuries.
For the family of ten-year-old Varun from Chikkaballapur Chintamani, this Diwali turned out to be a nightmare. Varun was rushed to Minto hospital on Sunday afternoon, after he sustained injuries on both eyes.
He got injured while bursting crackers outside his house, after cracker particles entered both the eyes. According to Minto hospital authorities his condition was serious and has been hospitalised.
A ten-year-old girl Dharini too was admitted at Minto Hospital for a major eye injury. For 39-year-old Kavitha, her decision to take a stroll near her house in Kallahalli proved costly, as she was admitted to Minto hospital with a major eye injury. The Hospital also treated four minors as out-patients on Sunday.
Last year, Narayana Nethralaya had treated a large number of eye injuries during the festive season, of which a majority were children below the age of 14 years. Many of them were bystanders or got injured while walking or riding vehicles.
This year, the hospital witnessed more than eighteen cases of eye injury, with one being a major one. Dr Raghu Nagaraju, consultant, Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, said they came across 15 eye injury cases and this was half of what they came across last year.
“Thankfully, all of them were mild ones. Of the 15 cases, three were injuries around the eyes, six foreign body cases, four corneal abrasions and two hyphema cases,” he said.
Sankara Hospital came across two cases and one had to undergo corneal tear repair. Vijaya Nethralaya reported two eye injury cases, whereas Bangalore Nethralaya reported six. Many city hospitals are offering helpline for eye injury victims.
