Hospitals in Hyderabad treat over 170 firecracker eye injuries from Deepavali

UPDATE - follow-up to Children make up nearly half of Deepavali eye-injury cases at Hyderabad hospital: Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital and L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad treated a combined total of nearly 180 patients for firecracker-related eye injuries over Deepavali.

Patient Details

At the government-run Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, 87 patients reported for treatment over November 7 and 8. Children made up 37 of these cases, accounting for nearly half of the total patients. Hospital superintendent Modini Pandharpurkar stated that 15 patients were admitted to the Burns Ward, including nine-year-old Mokshit from Bhadrachalam. Ten of the admitted patients were scheduled for surgery on Monday. Two adult patients had a poor prognosis while one child was expected to recover. One patient went to Osmania General Hospital and three were sent to Niloufer Hospital. Two others remained under observation and two more were being evaluated.

Other Hospital Data

Dr. Pandharpurkar noted that 54 patients received treatment during the same period last year. She expects patient numbers to grow over the next two to three days as more people travel from districts to Hyderabad. Many victims were innocent bystanders who got hurt while walking on roads or standing near active firecracker spots. Bullet bombs, mirchi bombs and rockets caused many of the injuries. Meanwhile, the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute recorded 92 firecracker injuries across the two nights of celebrations. Their numbers showed two cases on November 7 and 90 cases during Deepavali on November 8. Doctors at LVPEI advised surgery for 25 of those patients and carried out six procedures.

Context

Deepavali celebrations across India frequently lead to a surge in burn and eye injuries due to the widespread bursting of loud and high-impact fireworks in public and residential areas. Hospitals in major cities routinely set up special emergency wards and trauma teams during the festival season to manage the high volume of sudden eye trauma cases.