Eager to get taller overnight, a B Tech student went through a surgery at a corporate hospital in Lakdikapul on Tuesday without his parents’ knowledge.
Hoping to get taller before joining his first job, Nikhil Reddy went missing from his home two days ago, prompting his father Govardhan Reddy and classmates to scour the city hospitals as they feared the BTech student may have fallen victim to accident.
Nikhil was finally traced to Global Hospital, where he was going through a surgery to increase his height. Before Govardhan Reddy could reach the hospital, the surgery had begun and it took six hours to complete.
“I was told that the surgeons had cut his bones and inserted rods,” Govardhan –who lodged a police complaint over his son’s missing- told reporters.
Nikhil’s friends told his shocked parents that he wanted to be taller than his five foot-seven inches before he joined his first job and had approached the hospital as it was the only facility providing height enhancement surgery.
“He has been visiting the hospital,” one of his close friends said. Nikhil’s parents had no clue that their reasonably tall son was considering height correction.
With the money earned from part-time jobs and borrowings from friends, Nikhil had paid the Rs 4 lakh needed for the surgery. “He still has to pay Rs 3 lakh and will be bedridden for nine months,” Govardhan Reddy said.
When he saw Nikhil at the ICU, he was writhing in pain due to swollen legs and was barely able to speak. “How could the doctors conduct such a major surgery without taking permission from his parents?” Govardhan asked.
The hospital’s Orthopaedic and knee replacement specialist Dr G Chandrabhushan reportedly said one of Nikhil’s friends posed as his local guardian and signed the consent papers.
Published 05 April 2016, 19:12 IST