Despair, hope & an end: Fire brought cruel twist to youth’s fate at SCB Hospital

Koraput: The death of a 20-year-old youth in the ICU fire at SCB has cast a shadow of grief over an entire village in Koraput district.Pabitra Disari of Pandasaguda village under Borigumma block was among the 12 who lost their lives in the fire on Monday night. Pabitra met with a road accident on March 10 near Kosaguda under Borigumma police station limits, in which his right leg got completely crushed. Coming from a family with limited means, his parents struggled to arrange for treatment. He was admitted to Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College in Koraput and later shifted to MKCG Medical College in Berhampur, and then to AIIMS Bhubaneswar. But he was referred back from each of these hospitals, pushing the family into despair.Just when all hope seemed lost, doctors at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, took charge of his treatment. With his haemoglobin level dropping, Pabitra’s condition became critical. Doctors arranged blood and carried out a complex surgery to save him. The operation was successful and Pabitra was fitted with an artificial leg.For the first time in weeks, his family saw a ray of hope as he was shifted to the ICU for recovery. But then fate intervened, and the same night the fire engulfed the trauma ICU, resulting in Pabitra’s death.