Yamini C S | Edited by Chandrashekar Srinivasan
In a strange development, doctors recovered 187 coins from a patient’s stomach in Karnataka’s Bagalkot on Sunday after he came in complaining of abdominal discomfort and vomiting. Doctors discovered the coins upon conducting an X-ray examination and an endoscopy on the man, a 58-year-old from Raichur district’s Lingsugur.
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The man has been identified as Dyamappa Harijan. He had swallowed 56 coins of ₹5, 51 of ₹2, and 80 of ₹1, worth ₹462 in total. The coins weighed 1.5 kilograms. Doctors attending to the man said he is suffering from schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder, and had swallowed the coins over a period of two to three months.
The surgery to remove the said coins took place at the Hanagal Shree Kumareshwar Hospital and Research Centre in Bagalkot. Harijan had been admitted in the hospital after he complained of stomach ache on Saturday.
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Dr Eshwar Kalaburgi, one of the doctors who performed the surgery, said, “The stomach was dilated enormously… lots of coins were stuck in different places of the stomach. After two hours of surgery, we retrieved all the coins. Following the operation, he was treated for water deficiency and other minor issues. The patient is stable and is talking as of now.”
Symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and disorganized or abnormal motor behaviour, among others.