Chennai doctors treat, revive construction worker who fell from 17th floor

Chennai dosctors with the 20-year old worker who fell from the 17th floor.

Chennai: In a three-month long effort, a multi-disciplinary team of doctors treated and helped in the recuperation of a 20-year old worker who fell off the 17th floor of a building. According to statistics quoted by doctors, a 60 feet or 20 meter fall is considered fatal, but in this case, the patient was revived after suffering a 200 feet fall, owing to timely hospitalization.

Firoj Alam, a 20-year old from Bihar worked as an AC mechanic at a major construction site in Chennai. On December 9th last year, he suffered an accidental fall from his worksite on the 17th floor and sustained multiple injuries. He was rushed to a nearby hospital within 10 minutes, by the persons on site.

Doctors said the patient was brought in an unresponsive state, with breathing problems, extremely low blood pressure, bleeding from the head, mouth, ears, nose and both his legs had exposed bones. CT Scans revealed that the patient had suffered severe traumatic brain injury with blood clots, multiple facial fractures, cervical spine fracture, liver and right kidney injuries and fractures in the legs.

As the blood pressure stabilized and the patient was stable, doctors performed surgeries to fix the leg fractures, following which liver and kidney injuries were treated through non-operative procedures. The facial fractures were also corrected by Faciomaxillary surgery.

In a few weeks, as he regained consciousness, the patient was behaving very aggressively with severe mood swings, which was treated by the Psychiatrist and Neuropsychologist.

Nearly two months of intensive care management, multiple surgical procedures, various medications, physiotherapy, speech therapy, cognitive therapy, rehabilitation and nursing led to the slow recovery of the patient, said Dr. Roopesh Kumar Senior Consultant, Neurosurgeon, Apollo Specialty Hospitals OMR.

On Friday, nearly three months after his near-fatal fall, Alam will be boarding a flight to his hometown in Bihar, where he will continue his physiotherapy and tele consultations.

When asked about the crucial first aid and precautions for common people handling fall or accident victims Dr. Devachandran Jayakumar, Critical Care Consultant, Apollo Hospitals said that blood loss must be prevented, the patient must be lifted with minimal movement, after being placed on a board (to ensure that fractures don’t worsen). He also emphasized on requesting an ambulance so that the patient can be cared for on the way to the hospital.  

“The patient who is currently wheelchair bound is expected to further recover over the next one year and live his life in a near-normal manner, with 80% recovery,” Dr. Devachandran Jayakumar told Zee Media.

Doctors also emphasized the importance of blood donors who contributed blood despite the COVID-19 pandemic risk, which helped in saving many lives at crucial hours. They also said that patients who have fully recovered from COVID-19 and are back to routine life can donate blood.