In what should have been a rare case, doctors extracted about 80 objects from a patient’s stomach in Udaipur, Rajasthan, reported Indian news agency ANI. The man had swallowed keys, coins and other paraphernalia. Further details were unavailable.
This is however, not a one-off. A few days earlier, it was reported by another Indian newspaper that in the same city, doctors removed more than 50 items including safety pins and knives. This gent, G., was apparently a drug addict and was taken to MB hospital while complaining of severe stomach cramps. An X-ray and endoscopy revealed these items in his stomach and intestines. His family members said they had no idea when he had ingested them.
But these episodes are blunted in their effect by another incident where doctors in the state had to remove more than 100 nails and metal objects from a man’s intestines. Bholar Shankar – who suffers from learning disabilities – had swallowed about 116 nails and other bits of metal including wires. "I was stunned after noticing the bunch of nails in his X-ray report after which I asked him to have one more X-ray. Similarities reflected in both reports, thereafter, the patient was operated successfully," news agency ANI quoted Dr Anil Saini, who led a team of doctors who performed the operation, as saying.
In 2017, surgeons found themselves with a patient who had ‘eaten’ 639 nails; they had to use a magnet to draw these out.