11/7: Setback for bounceback victim

MUMBAI: As the city barely paused to observe the sixth anniversary of the train bomb blasts on Wednesday, Parag Sawant, who has been the face of the tragedy, took a turn for the worse. The 33-year-old who had offered the city a ray of hope by bouncing back to consciousness from a comatose condition that lasted two years, has been sinking back to his gloomy past in recent months.
On July 11, 2006 Parag was travelling in a Churchgate-Virar local train when a bomb exploded in his compartment at Mira Road. Parag, who was rushed to Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mira Road, sustained extensive brain trauma and was subsequently shifted to Hinduja Hospital in Mahim which has been his home ever since. He pulled along in a vegetable-like state right through his daughter Prachiti’s birth. For the past six years, his loved ones have been painstakingly taking turns by his bedside even as Western Railways silently foot his hospital bills. He rewarded their dedication by springing to high spirits and even exchanging pleasantries with visitors since 2008. Unfortunately, the Sawant family’s joy has slipped back into worry. On Wednesday afternoon, a relative told TOI, “He is not doing too well and was re-admitted to the ICU on Wednesday afternoon.”
Hinduja Hospital’s medical director Gustad Daver said, “There is no further neurological improvement in all these years.” Another doctor said that whatever little neurological progress they had seen last year was lost after Parag spent three to four months in the ICU. “There was so much extensive brain damage that there was not much hope.” He said the fleeting moments of improvement could not sustain.
The 11/7 serial blasts marked one of the city’s biggest terror tragedies, killing 188 persons and leaving 817 injured. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who visited Parag on Wednesday, said the government had failed to fulfil its promises to the victims.