Doctors retrieve pin from 3-year-old

Mumbai: An open safety pin swallowed by a 3-year-old has been successfully removed from her throat at civic- run KEM hospital. The doctor had to perform an emergency surgery as the situation posed a threat to her life.

The girl was playing with her mother and accidentally swallowed the safety pin from her mother’s mangalsutra as it was open. The mother realised something was wrong with her child after the kid began crying profusely and refused to drink water or milk. The woman took her daughter to the family paediatrician, who saw the pin near her chest in the x-ray.

Dr Nilam Sathe, head of the department of ENT, from KEM hospital, said, “We had to do the surgery on immediate basis, otherwise it could have led to pus formation and that could be fatal. We did it with the aid of the telescopic method- endoscopic removal of the pin.”

Dr Sathe added, “She is doing fine now and can eat normal food. Parents should be careful and do their best to prevent such objects falling into the hands of their children’s. Had the safety pin not been removed on time, the infant could have died of internal
bleeding.”