Mumbai: Boy escapes death as rod hits jaw, skips major blood vessels

MUMBAI: A 5-year-old boy narrowly escaped a fatal injury after a freak accident, where a metal rod pierced through the bottom of his face and reached the upper jaw, narrowly missing the tongue and major blood vessels in the neck. Had it punctured any blood vessel, it could’ve been fatal, doctors said.
The boy, Ashraf Ali, was playing at a relative’s house in Chheda Nagar last Sunday when he tumbled down the stairs.His father, Sharafat Ali, told TOI that as he fell down, a rod jutting out of an iron gate pierced his right lower jaw, going up inside the mouth and hitting the palate. The rod exited on its own as he kept rolling down. He was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar.
Doctors said Ashraf had a miraculous escape. “The rod missed the carotid artery and jugular vein barely by 2-3cm. Had it punctured any of these blood vessels, he would’ve bled enormously, and the outcome could’ve been bad,” said Dr Adip Shetty, head consultant of the ENT department at Rajawadi. Dr Shetty said a team of anaesthetists and ENT experts was put together at once to suture the multiple wounds.
Ashraf was conscious, but his face was swollen. “The rod had created holes in the lower and upper jaws that we closed surgically. It took us 45 minutes,” the doctor said, adding that the boy needed 15 stitches. He can now eat and talk normally.
Dr Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent of Rajawadi Hospital, said normally such cases would be referred to a higher centre. “But now, Rajawadi has a full-fledged ENT department where DNB course will be offered soon,” she said.
The boy’s father, a carpenter, said Ashraf is his only son. “Hopefully, he’ll soon forget this horror,” he said.