The incessant rainfall this Deepavali has led to fewer cases of eye injury than last year, according to doctors. Opthalmologists said they attended to just a handful cases of firecracker-related eye injury since Tuesday.
The state-run Minto Opthalmic Hospital, which was expecting a large number of cases on account of the festival, wore an almost deserted look on Wednesday. Last year, doctors at the hospital had seen close to 60 cases. This year, the number dropped to just six.
All the patients were children; five were aged between six and seven, and the sixth patient was a 14-year-old. All of them had suffered minor injuries, Dr T K Ramesh, medical superintendent, Minto Ophthalmic Hospital, told Deccan Herald on Wednesday.
Two of the injured children were bursting crackers while the rest were bystanders, doctors at the hospital said.
Private hospitals, too, said they saw fewer cases than last year. Narayana Nethralaya hospitals treated four children, mostly having minor injuries. Two of them were aged under ten and as many were onlookers, said Dr K Bhujang Shetty, chairman, Narayana Nethralaya.
“Though an awareness was created that crackers must not be burst, I would attribute the sudden decline in such cases to the incessant rain,” he explained. “Last year, we had come across at least 50 cases of eye injury caused by fireworks. These numbers in turn were a lot lower than those in 2013. This could be because of the awareness campaign.”
Shankara Eye Hospital treated a four-year-old girl child who had injured her retina while witnessing the bursting of crackers. She has been kept under observation. Three other children — aged five, 12 and 16 — were treated as outpatients. At Samprathi Eye Hospital, Dr Arun Samprathi said two children aged four and seven and a 35-year-old man were treated. People’s Tree Hospital, MC Modi Charitable Eye Hospital and Dr Solanki Eye Hospital (Malleswaram) didn’t see any cases.
Published 11 November 2015, 20:43 IST