Whistle extracted from girl’s throat in Kolkata

KOLKATA: A nine-year-old girl who had accidentally swallowed a whistle was saved by an hour-long surgery using a newly acquired instrument at NRS hospital on Thursday. Surgeons used a rigid fiberoptic bronchoscope to extract the whistle from the right principal bronchus of Ummul Khair Fatima, a Kaliachak resident.

“My daughter was blowing the whistle while playing with her friends when it slipped into her mouth,” said Md Jahangir, the girl’s father.

Pranabashish Banerjee, associate professor of ENT department led the operation with assistant professor Kaniksha Chowdhury, Anindya Mukherjee, Dipankar Mukherjee and Mousumi Khanra. The rigid fiberoptic bronchoscope was procured a month back for Rs 95 lakh.