It was one
in the morning. I was woken up to attend to a young girl who had been bitten by
an unknown animal 2 hours back. She had been in the field near her house when
she was bitten on her hand.
The patient
was unable to talk. There were multiple bite wounds on her left hand. She was
having difficulty breathing and her eyelids were drooping. She was unable to
move her hands and legs. All this seemed to indicate that she was suffering
from neurotoxic envenomation (that is, she had most probably been bitten by a snake
whose venom acts on the body’s nervous system). I requested the nurse to
administer the test dose of anti-snake venom (ASV) and prepare an infusion of
it. I also called my senior doctor and asked him to come over to see her.
By the time
my senior arrived, the patient’s condition had worsened. She was gasping for
breath, her oxygen saturation levels were dropping and her pupils were almost
fully dilated and reacting poorly to light –– she was at Death’s door. While we
started desperate resuscitation measures, my senior decided to request Dr. Bawaskar
to come help us with the patient.
Dr.
Himmatrao Bawaskar is one of the legends in the field of internal medicine. He has
done immense research in various aspects of treatment of disorders in rural
areas. He is world-renowned for his research in the treatment of scorpion
stings & snake bites. His curt and professional manner may have not earned
him many admirers, but his humility and willingness to help is the reason he
holds such a high position in the medical fraternity.
Braving the
early morning chill, Dr. Bawaskar arrived within minutes of receiving the call.
He assessed the patient with a practised hand, asked me a few sharp questions
and put forward his plan of management. With his experience guiding us, we
simply followed his orders to the letter. The patient was put on mechanical
ventilation in order to make sure her respiratory rate was being maintained.
Apart from receiving a very large dose of ASV, multiple doses of medications
like Neostigmine and Atropine and intravenous infusions of Calcium gluconate
were administered –– in order to neutralize the effects of the snake venom.
At 4:30 am,
the patient was finally stabilized. I was advised to monitor her vitals every
half-hourly and to inform my senior if there was any drastic change in the
parameters. Later in the day, she was transferred to a larger government
hospital for intensive care & monitoring. Before her transfer, Dr. Bawaskar
made sure that I put his contact number on the transfer letter, so that the
attending physicians could discuss her further treatment with him. Due to his
efforts, she recovered completely in two days.
Watching
the passion with which an expert worked in his field motivated me to study
harder and to keep my eyes and ears open. Because, as one of our professors
told us in medical school–– what we learn today, no matter how trivial, could
save somebody’s life tomorrow.
