Sir,

A 2-year-old child was rushed to our Emergency Room (ER) because the child had swallowed a coin about 3 hours ago. After swallowing the coin at home, the child was in great discomfort and couldn’t swallow her saliva down.

The child was taken to a few hospitals earlier and X ray images confirmed that the coin was stuck in the throat.

The distressed family travelled in and around before taking a deviation from the Ring Road to enter VTU road and reach our hospital.

When the child arrived in the ER, she appeared comfortable but the parents were stressed.

As we were getting ready for the extraction of the stuck coin, a quick repeat X ray was done. We all were overwhelmed to see the coin fall off the throat into the stomach.

We informed the family that the coin will now come out via the natural route in about 3 – 7 days.

And when I told them that they should thank the Department in charge of maintaining the said road, everyone around were taken aback. Then I had to explain to them that the badly potholed VTU road was the reason why the coin fell down into the stomach!?

The family had travelled in a car for more than 2 hours on multiple roads but only VTU road could do the trick. I hope this incident explains how pathetic the condition of the said road is.

This road is travelled by hundreds of people all through the day. Why this apathy towards the common man? Will the authorities concerned do the needful at the earliest?

NOTE: The coin eventually came out in stools on day-6. The child remained pain-free and stable all through these 6 days.

– Dr. S. Anoop, Sathagalli, 3.1.2022

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