Mumbai: Man who was sucked into MRI machine and survived recounts his ordeal

IllustrationUday MohiteEvery single person in the city was left shocked by the horrific death of Rajesh Maru who was sucked in the MRIacircAcircAcircu00c2u0080AcircAcircu00c2u0088machine at Nair Hospital last week but only one man knows exactly how it felt And when Swami Ramaiah 43 opened the papers the next morning and read about the incident it brought back all the traumatic memories from 2014 when he too was pinned against an MRI machine for four hoursAlso read Mumbai MRI death Metal detector outside Nair Hospitals scan room was not functionalWhen I read about Rajesh Marus death in the papers I was extremely shocked I felt nervous and all the trauma I had gone through came flooding back to me I have tried really hard to forget the suffering that I went through I went through series of counselling sessions But when I read about the incident at Nair hospital I went numb said a visibly agitated RamaiahRamaiah is no stranger to MRIs in fact he works as an MRI technician at the Tata Memorialrun Advance Centre for Treatment Research amp Education in Cancer ACTREC in Navi Mumbai Just like Maru he was aware of the danger of carrying metal near an MRI scanner but he suffered because of the negligence of a ward boyOn November 8 2014 he was operating the MRI when a ward boy walked in with an oxygen cylinder In an instant Ramaiah found himself pinned between the machine and the boy holding the cylinder He remained stuck in this position for four hours and the impact left him paralysed below the waist as blood circulation to his lower body was compromised His urinary bladder was punctured kidneys were damaged and he suffered massive internal bleedingThree years later Ramaiah has finally recovered enough to get back on his feet but is still under treatment to help him walk better But Ramaiah is still haunted by the mental trauma from the incident and all of it came flooding back to him after the Nair hospital episodeReliving the nightmareThere have been nights when I would wake up in a cold sweat just remembering those four hours I can feel the pain that the deceased must have gone through He was too young to meet such a fate But I cant talk about it anymore I just want to forget about it he said Ramaiah who underwent counselling at the governmentrun JJ hospital for almost two years continues to work at the MRI centre at ACTRECWhen asked why he went back to work in the MRI room he explained During counselling my doctor had told me to overcome my fear and the best way to do it was to face it So even though I was scared to go back to the centre I didnt give up Ramaiah who has a nineyearold daughter said his family members and friends kept him strong Even after the Nair hospital incident people close to me feared that I would be traumatised again so they kept calling to cheer me up he added Since the incident the hospital has taken responsibility of all his medical expenses Although his legs and hands still tremble Ramaiah said he is doing better nowChanges adoptedThe hospital also adopted a threelevel screening process to keep metal out of the MRI room a change that Ramaiah highly approves of All hospitals should adopt the threelevel process so that even unknowingly no one takes metal inside and suffers the pain that Maru and I went through This rules out human error too he saidRamaiah also suggested that the authorities must train all technicians so that such incidents are not repeated in the future The technicians working inside the MRI room or staffers who bring patients inside need to be educated about the dos and donts he addedCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go