MP: Year after airgun attack, 3 needles removed from undertrial prisoner’s heart

Indore, Sep 26 (PTI) Doctors at a government hospital in Indore have removed three needles that had been lodged in the heart of a 29-year-old undertrial prisoner for about a year, after a complex surgery, officials said on Friday.

The needles were fired at the man with the help of an airgun-like weapon over a financial dispute. Doctors called his survival despite the sharp objects embedded in his heart nothing short of a miracle.

Dr Sumit Pratap Singh, a surgeon at the Government Super Specialty Hospital, told PTI that the patient was admitted with complaints of throbbing and persistent pain on the left side of his chest.

His CT scan and echocardiography reports left the doctors at the hospital stunned, as they found three needles lodged in the man’s heart.

“We removed the needles, which were between one and 2.5 inches long, from the patient’s heart after a complex eight-hour operation. The procedure was similar to an open-heart surgery,” he said.

Singh said the patient, who is in jail in connection with a criminal case, is in good condition after the surgery.

“It’s a miracle that this man survived for a year despite having three needles lodged in his heart. The needles had caused swelling in the vital organ and changed its appearance,” he said.

According to officials, the man was shot in the chest, neck, and head with needles from a firearm resembling an airgun in Delhi last year over a monetary dispute. The needles were removed from the other parts of his body, but three needles remained stuck to his heart. PTI HWP MAS NR