NEW DELHI: A one-and-a-half-year-old child had a miraculous escape after he fell into soap water in a washing machine and reportedly remained in it for 15 minutes. After seven days in coma and on ventilator, and then 12 days in a ward, he has now gone home. The child is behaving normally and walking properly, said doctors at Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, where he was treated. According to doctors, the boy was unconscious, unresponsive, cold and had breathing difficulties when he was brought to the hospital. “He had turned blue, was gasping, his heart rate was feeble, there was no pulse and BP,” said Dr Rahul Nagpal, director of neonatology and paediatrics. According to the mother, the child was inside the soap water for 15 minutes in a top loading washing machine whose lid was open, the doctor said. She had gone out of the room, and on returning, couldn’t find him for some time. The boy apparently climbed a chair and fell into the machine. “Time duration would probably be less than 15 minutes, otherwise he couldn’t have survived,” said Dr Nagpal, adding that even then it was indeed a miracle for him to be alive.Dr Himanshi Joshi, a consultant at the paediatrics department, said the child was brought in a fatal state. “Due to soap water, functions of his various organs were compromised, including electrolyte imbalance. He caught chemical pneumonitis — inflammation of the lungs or breathing difficulty due to inhaling chemical fumes or breathing in and choking on certain chemicals — which led to bacterial pneumonia. Later, he also suffered from gastrointestinal infection,” said Dr Joshi. She added that the child was given necessary antibiotics and IV fluid support, following which he started recovering. Slowly, he started recognising his mother and was taken off the ventilator. The patient was in the paediatric ICU for seven days, before being shifted to the ward where he stayed for 12 days.Doctors said his CT brain was done to assess any neurological complication, but it didn’t show any immediate damage to the brain. The child is under follow-up treatment.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/baby-falls-in-washing-machine-full-of-soap-water-in-delhi-rescued-after-nearly-15-minutes/articleshow/97927551.cms