City hospital gives British citizen a new lease of life
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A 55- year- old British citizen got a new lease of life at a city hospital after he suffered severe head, facial and chest injuries while paragliding in Kangra of Himachal Pradesh.
According to the doctors, Anthony Barry Roberts, a trained paraglider with as many as 15 years of experience, was hit by sudden turbulent weather, which smashed him against a rock face where he was left suspended from his parachute.
“According to Mr Barry, a Russian pilot, who was also paragliding, landed near him, and risked his own life to administer first aid. Blinded by the blood and swelling on his face, Mr Barry still managed to send a distress SOS from his satellite phone,” said doctors.
He was first flown to the Army Hospital in Kangra where a chest tube was inserted as he had a ruptured lung and six fractured ribs.
He was then shifted to the local medical college for CT scan and neurosurgical care.
Since he needed specialised care due to the severity of his wounds, he was air- lifted to Apollo Hospital in the capital two days later where a team of
Anthony Barry Roberts, a trained paraglider with as many as 15 years of experience, was hit by sudden turbulent weather, which smashed him against a rock face where he was left suspended from his parachute
surgeons, including neurosurgeon Dr Rajendra Prasad, plastic surgeon Dr Kuldeep Singh and cardio thoracic surgeon Dr Ganjoo operated on him.
“The patient had a compound comminuted fracture of the frontal bone, which means it broke into more than two fragments, with fracture of the frontal air sinus resulting in air escaping inside the cranial cavity,” Dr Prasad said
On top of that, he had extensive facial bones and skull base fractures. It was an complicated surgery, which involved repairing the covering of the brain ( dura) and stabilising the frontal and facial bone fractures. “It is a medical miracle that he is even alive,” he added.
Next day after the accident at around 7 am multiple clearances were taken to save the life of one man.
The victim’s SOS signal was picked up in the US from where the Weather Centre at the Indira Gandhi International ( IGI) Airport was alerted, which, in turn, sent a mail to the distress cell to the commissioner’s office in Kangra.
An IAS officer Jatin Lal then spent the entire night getting clearances from the army and Indian Air Force, IAF Command Centre in Jammu and Kashmir, the American Embassy in Delhi and the Union ministry of defense in Delhi.
Finally, the joint secretary, ministry of defense gave the final clearance at 6: 30 am for an IAF chopper to rescue him.