Massive crowds during the Sant Tukaram Palkhi procession at Hadapsar flyover (top), did not deter Dr Deshmukh from reaching the hospital and operating on Nitin Raybhan (above) [PIC: SANDEEP GHULE] Urgent laparoscopy performed at Loni Kalbhor hospital after surgeon made the journey from Hadapsar almost entirely on foot.On July 9, as parts of the city shut down to make way for the Palkhi procession, a journey of a different sort, but no less significant, unfolded simultaneously. A patient, who turned out to have a serious liver complication, walked nearly an hour to reach the nearest hospital, while the doctor who eventually treated him, made nearly the entire journey on foot after walking for almost four hours.Forced to park his car at Hadapsar, Dr Sushil J Deshmukh, a Kalyani Nagar resident, walked the next 8 km to Loni railway station, where he was finally given a lift by a motorcyclist. Having started walking at 10 am, it was 3 pm by the time he arrived at Vishwaraj Hospital in Loni Kalbhor, having briefed the hospital staff to stabilise the patient and get him ready for surgery.For patient Nitin Nathaji Raybhan, a resident of Lohegaon, a night of watching the procession with his friends and family turned into a veritable nightmare.Raybhan had already undergone a liver surgery in January this year. Around 12.30 am, he felt some discomfort in his abdominal area. At first, he ignored it, but at 2 am, he felt it again and alerted his family. They decided to take him to Vishwaraj Hospital as the incident had occurred near Loni. With all roads blocked, there was no option but to walk there. It was 3 am by the time they got there and by then, Raybhan’s condition had visibly deteriorated. He kept complaining of pain, started throwing up and had developed a temperature. At the hospital, Raybhan was diagnosed with a ruptured liver abscess (RLA) of almost 22 cm.Caused by bacteria from food travelling from the intestine to the liver, RLA can be fatal and lead to sepsis, empyema or peritonitis.Raybhan’s ultrasound showed a large pocket in the liver, containing at least 400 ml of pus. To get a better idea of the status of his other organs and other possible causes of the problem, Raybhan was advised to undergo a CT scan of the abdomen. The reports showed that the abscess had burst. By now, it was almost 6 am and Raybhan had developed breathing problems and a high pulse rate. He was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and it was decided that he required emergency surgery.This was when Dr Deshmukh was informed. Aware that the routes were closed for Palkhi, the hospital looked for alternatives, too, but to no avail.“Due to Palkhi, the entire route was blocked and the procession also had a halt at Loni Kalbhor. I started walking from Hadapsar around 10 am to reach the hospital after having parked my car at the Hadapsar flyover. It took me almost four hours to cover a distance of eight kms due to the crowd,” said Dr Deshmukh, who is the general and laparoscopic surgeon at Vishwaraj Hospital.“Fortunately, after I crossed Loni railway station, I stopped a biker who gave me a lift to the hospital. Along the way, I was speaking to the hospital staff on the phone and instructing them to stabilise the patient and make pre-operative arrangements. I reached around 3 pm and went straight to the operating theatre. A laparoscopy was performed and the process took around three hours with 700 ml of pus removed. Afterwards, the patient had to be put on ventilator support for two days and is now stable,” added Dr Deshmukh.Reminiscing over the ordeal, Chanda Raybhan, the patient’s wife, said, “My husband was feeling uneasy and complained of severe abdominal pain. He was shouting in pain and we knew we had to get him to the hospital immediately. It was late at night and the huge crowd was a challenge. People nearby told us about Vishwaraj Hospital, but it was impossible to reach swiftly, owing to the crowd.”She added, “We somehow managed to get him there after walking for almost an hour. Thankfully, he is now doing well.”The Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi started on July 6 from Dehu and halted at Vithhal Mandir in Loni Kalbhor on July 9. The procession was to leave Loni Kalbhor on July 10 and proceed to Yavat. The Palkhi of Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj started from Alandi on July 6 and was to exit Pune on July 9 through Hadapsar, on its way to a halt in Saswad.

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