This Diwali, some revellers lose sparkle in their eyes

For seven-year-old Sunny Srivastav, this Diwali has brought him darkness. The Dombivli resident lost vision in his right eye while he was trying to light a bomb. Speaking of the incident, a distraught Pinky, Sunny's mother said, "He and his friend were trying to light a bomb on Monday afternoon. Suddenly, his eye started bleeding and we had to rush him to KEM Hospital."

Sunny was trying to light a bomb when something flew into his eye, causing him to lose his vision

And it's not just Sunny for whom the future looks dark. Geeta Sharake, a 40-year-old, lost vision in her left eye after a stone hit her while she was travelling in a rickshaw and crackers were being burst. A relative said she had to undergo an operation at KEM Hospital but doctors were still unsure if she would regain eyesight.

But it wasn't all gloomy, as there were also a few cases where patients had sustained eye injuries, but would regain their vision. One such case was of Vaibhav Khandare. The 13-year-old sustained a serious injury to his right eye after a glass shard entered his eye. "I had just stepped out of my house and was walking by my colony, when the glass shard pierced my eye. Our neighbours then informed us that a group of boys had lit a bomb inside the glass bottle," he said, adding that he was glad that he hadn't lost his vision.

Meanwhile, two other patients had been rushed to KEM with ruptured eardrums. Dr Hetal Marfatia, associate professor of the department, said that the injured had been treated on OPD basis. "It takes around six weeks for the eardrum to heal. We rarely see cases of hearing loss during Diwali and in most cases, the patients don't require surgery."

Other cases
Doctors at civic-run hospital said that several patients had been brought in with burn injuries and ruptured eardrums in the past three days. At Sion Hospital, 40 patients have been treated for Diwali-related injuries, out of which only six had to be admitted. Dr Avinash Supe, dean of the hospital, said that the patients who had been admitted were under observation and their condition was stable.

One of the patients at the hospital was eight-year-old Jyoti Yadav. She had sustained 25 per cent burns to her back, after he dress caught fire while she tried to light a sparkler. Jyoti's father Sambola said the girl realised she was on fire too late, and by then she had already sustained injuries to her back.

She is currently under going treatment at the burns unit of Sion Hospital. At Nair Hospital, only 11 patients were brought in for Diwali injuries, of which two had to be admitted for minor eye and burn injuries. Dr R N Bharmal, dean of the hospital, said that there were no serious injuries and all the cases were manageable.

Fewer respiratory ailments this year
Experts observed that compared to last year, there are fewer patients complaining of respiratory ailments or difficulty in breathing during Diwali. "As compared to last year, there have been fewer patients complaining of respiratory ailments due to fewer firecrackers being burst. However, the virus tends to build over a period of time and we might see a sudden influx in the number of cases in the next two weeks," said Dr Om Srivastav, head of infectious diseases, Jaslok Hospital.

40
The number of patients treated for Diwali-related injuries at Sion Hospitalu00a0