Advanced Care in the Sky: Doctors Fly in to Save Boy from Severe Brain Condition

A 12-year-old boy from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, was suffering from a rare infection that led to severe symptoms such as high fever, seizures, and brain pressure, eventually rendering him unable to recognize even his own parents. Initially admitted to a local hospital in Raipur, his condition worsened, prompting the doctors there to contact KIMS Cuddles Hospital in Kondapur, Hyderabad for advanced care.

Dr. Parag Dekate, the Clinical Director of the Pediatrics Department and Head of the Pediatric ICU at KIMS Cuddles, provided details of the case. “The boy was experiencing severe fever, seizures, and  increasing brain pressure. The local doctors reached out to us for better treatment options. Upon our arrival in Raipur, the boy’s condition had deteriorated further with increased seizures, low blood pressure, and difficulty breathing. We immediately intubated him to stabilize his breathing, administered medications to control the brain pressure and seizures, and then airlifted him to Hyderabad.One of our pediatric ICU Consultant Dr.Tarun assisted during complete air transport. He was admitted here for 9 days. During this period, his brain pressure spiked, and he had more seizures, but we managed to treat all these complications with appropriate medications. The infection he had, known as Rickettsial with infection, is extremely rare in the Raipur region and was resusted in  brain condition called MERS. He also developed issues with his liver and kidneys, which we treated successfully. On the fourth day of his stay, we removed him from the ventilator, and by the ninth day, he was fully recovered and discharged.”

Dr. Avinash and Dr.Kalyan (Pediatric Intensivist) emphasized the KIMS Cuddles’ capability to handle critical cases from any part of the country, especially where advanced medical facilities may not be available.

He was managed jointly by multispeciality team which includes Dr.Prabhjot/Dr.Jayanth Krishna (Pediatric neurologist), Dr.Pandu(Pediatric Gastroenterologist)Dr.Mounika (Pediatric Nephrology), Dr.Pratik Y Patil (Infectious Diseases)

“Air ambulances can be expensive, but nothing is more valuable than life. It is crucial to transfer patients to centers with the necessary facilities for timely and effective treatment. This was our second case where we successfully treated a critically ill child flown in by air, the first being a baby who required ECMO support during transit.Recently we have done one of the longest Road ECMO transport  in the world required 9 hour of road transport on ECMO from Nagpur, its like creating advanced extracorporeal unit on road. KIMS Cuddles has a history of successfully managing complex cases like these,” Dr. Parag Dekate concluded.