The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Agony continues for bomb blast victims

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Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Agony continues for bomb blast victims

M.L. Melly Maitreyi

Initial relief gives way to anguish as two youth are still confined to their hospital beds

No more active medical treatment can be given at the hospital
Badushah Pothuganti was on a vacation from Australia

- PHOTO: P. V. SIVAKUMAR

Putting up a brave face: Badushah Pothuganti, a victim of the bomb blast at Gokul Chat Bhandar, resting at Care Hospital in Moazzamjahi Market on Tuesday. Also seen are his parents.

HYDERABAD: The fervent prayers of family members were answered and the lives of two young men hurt in bomb blasts at the Gokul Chat were saved by doctors from the jaws of death. But the initial relief has given way to greater anguish as the two youth are still confined to their hospital beds even as the eatery itself has opened.

Sadashiva Reddy and Badushah Pothuganti are lying in adjacent rooms at the Care Hospital, Nampally, for the last three months and their recovery still appears to be a long drawn affair.

While doctors V. Venkata Ramana (orthosurgeon) and Syed Ameer Basha (neurosurgeon) are clear that “no more active medical treatment” can be to be given at the hospital.

They say the recovery process could be a long one aided by physiotherapy and hence, the two can be discharged.

Family members feel otherwise and say it is better if both continue to be in the hospital as round-the-clock care is available. Sadashiva Reddy, in a semi-conscious state even three months after the August 25 bomb blast, with pellets still lodged in head, abdomen, limbs, does not recognise anyone nor responds to commands.

The 25-year-old design engineer armed with M.Tech degree had a rosy future and even went overseas for training but the blast snuffed all that shattering his folks.

He is fed through nasal tubes and is totally immobile and oblivious of the surroundings.

“How can we take our son home in this state? We wish the Government continues to extend medicare till my son recovers to attend to his own needs,” pleads his mother Vasantha in a choked voice.

“My husband is retiring next year and my eldest son had quit his job to look after my bed-ridden son. I am scared to think of our future,” she sobs.

In the very next room is Badushah Pothuganti, 26.

His lower limbs got paralysed when a pellet got lodged deep in his spinal cord and could not be removed.

He is undergoing physiotherapy for his stiff left shoulder and elbow which he cannot yet move properly. That has been his position ever since the blast for this telecom engineer.

He was in the city for a vacation from Melbourne in Australia and was shopping with his mother when the bomb went off at the eatery. Badushah hopes to return to his job once he makes a recovery.

His father Balayya, lecturer, too feels continuous medical care available at the hospital alone would hasten his son’s recovery.

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