Shot in the neck and stomach during the Pahalgam terror attack and admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, Dr A Parmeswaran is now stable, sources said on Friday. They said his young age and physical fitness helped him recover.
The 31-year-old ENT surgeon from ’s Kanchipuram had gone to Pahalgam along with his wife, Dr Aravind, for a vacation when he was shot. He also fractured his right arm.
Sources at Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre at AIIMS said Parmeswaran has now been shifted to the ward after being in the ICU for at least five days.
The doctor had been airlifted to AIIMS on April 22 after undergoing multiple preliminary surgeries at the government medical college in & Kashmir’s Anantnag.
“The doctors have been taking care of the wound in his right arm and abdomen. He is a young person and good fitness and luck helped him survive,” said a doctor from the hospital.
Sources in the hospital said he is now undergoing physiotherapy for rebuilding mobility. “We started it this morning itself and we are now working on his mobility,” said an official.
Doctors at AIIMS had earlier said that Dr Parmeswaran’s condition was critical.
Sources involved in his treatment told that he had extensive injuries in the intestine and liver, and a fractured humerus in his right arm.
Speaking with The Indian Express, Lokmanya Tilak, the maternal uncle of Parmeswaran’s wife, Dr Nayanthara Aravind, said the family and Nayanthara have been under immense stress.
“Yet, she was the one who made him sit on a chair at one of the eateries (in Pahalgam) and sought help from the locals. With help from the local police, they got him to a hospital,” said Tilak.
At Anantnag Medical College, he underwent a critical life-saving surgery, but since the patient needed intensive, post-operative care, moment-to-moment monitoring and secondary interventions, he was moved to AIIMS in an air ambulance.
A close-range gunshot to the abdomen can cause severe damage to the liver and intestines. The liver can bleed out profusely, sending the body into shock, while the intestines are prone to perforation and bleeding.
