As King George’s Medical University prepared for its 22nd convocation on Monday morning, surgeons at the Trauma Centre worked urgently to save a 23-year-old labourer impaled by four iron rods. The man reached the facility with rods piercing his chest and abdomen, damaging several vital organs. After an eight-and-a-half-hour operation, doctors removed the rods and stabilized him.
The victim, identified as Umesh from Naraiya village in Farrukhabad district, was working at an under-construction site in Badshah Nagar around 4:30 am on July 13 when he slipped and fell onto exposed reinforcement rods. Four rods entered from the left side of his body, passing through the abdomen and chest and emerging on the opposite side, with three extending toward the right shoulder and neck.
Residents cut the rods at the site rather than removing them and transported him to the trauma centre. On arrival, his blood pressure was unstable and he showed blood in his urine. A CT scan showed damage to the urinary bladder, small intestine, stomach, spleen, diaphragm, left lung and major abdominal vessels, along with a collapsed lung.
Doctors first stabilized him using Advanced Trauma Life Support protocols and inserted chest drains before moving him to surgery. The main risk was severe bleeding if the rods were withdrawn without preparation, as they were temporarily sealing damaged vessels. Surgeons performed a combined chest and abdominal procedure, extracting the rods one by one while repairing the affected organs. The patient received three units of packed red blood cells and four units of fresh frozen plasma during the operation.
After surgery, Umesh was transferred to intensive care, where he remains stable. The vice-chancellor praised the team for managing the complex case through coordinated efforts across departments.
Doctors advised against removing any embedded sharp objects at an accident scene, noting that such items can prevent major blood loss until proper surgical facilities are available. The procedure involved a multidisciplinary team of trauma surgeons and anaesthesiologists working together for nearly eight and a half hours.
