Rishikesh (The Hawk): 24-year-old Pushkar Singh, a resident Champawat district, was rescued from collapsed tunnel of Silkyara (Uttarakashi) but, unaware that he also had a congenital hole in his heart. After the rescue operation, it was detected during the medical health check-up in AIIMS, Rishikesh. The doctors decided to do open heart surgery and performed it successfully on 28th December 2023, and he recovered smoothly after this major operation and now discharged.
Pushkar Singh from Champawat district was among the total 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara Tunnel accident in Uttarkashi in the last year. On November 29, when all the workers were rescued and taken to AIIMS Rishikesh, like other workers, he was also thoroughly examined by the doctors. By Echocardiography test, Cardiologist Dr. Barun Kumar detected that he has a hole in his heart. This heart problem may be since birth however, he was totally unaware of this disease.
Dr. Anshuman Darbari, senior CTVS surgeon of the AIIMS, Rishikesh informed that earlier at the time of discharge on December 1st, Pushkar was physically and mentally not fit enough for this major surgery. Therefore, he was called later for this surgery in a planned manner. Dr. Darbari informed that open heart surgery of Pushkar was done on 28th December 2023, and he recovered well. Giving information about this, Dr. Anshuman Darbari informed that if he had not reached AIIMS after this incident, he would not be detected of this condition with later serious health consequences.The other team members included in this operation were Dr. Ankit Aggarwal, Dr. Avinash and Dr. Pooja Ahuja.
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Executive Director of AIIMS Rishikesh Prof. Meenu Singh took personal interest and guided the doctors for this patient. Prof. Meenu Singh also informed that state Chief Minister Sh. Pushkar singh Dhami was continuously taking updates on the health and wellbeing of this worker. She said that the entire treatment coverage was free under the Atal Ayushman health scheme of the state government. AIIMS Rishikesh is the currently single government health institution in the Uttarakhand state where heart and lung surgery with tertiary care health facilities are available under government welfare schemes.
