Doctors remove 187 coins weighing 1.5 kg from 58-year-old man suffering from schizophrenia

Bengaluru, Nov 30: In a bizarre incident, doctors in Bagalkot removed 187 coins weighing 1.5 kg from a 58-year-old man's stomach. The patient was admitted to the Hanagal Shree Kumareshwar Hospital and Research Centre after complaints of vomiting and abdominal discomfort. Based on his symptoms, Doctors did an X-ray and performed endoscopy only to find out that he had swallowed coins that were causing so much discomfort.

"He was suffering from a psychiatric disorder & had been swallowing coins for the last 2-3 months. He came to the hospital complaining of vomiting and abdominal discomfort," said Dr Eshwar Kalaburgi, one of the doctors who performed the surgery, news agency ANI reported.

The patient has been identified as Dyamappa Harijan who is a resident of Lingsugur town in Raichur district. According to reports, Harijan had swallowed coins of various denominations weighing a total of 1.5 kilogram over a period of two to three months.

Talking to mediapersons, Eshwar Kalburgi, one of the doctors who performed the surgery, said, "It was a challenging case. His stomach had become like a balloon and there were coins everywhere in his stomach. There were coins of one rupee, two rupees and five rupees. 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."

'As he was suffering from schizophrenia... in this condition, the patients are unaware of what they are doing. These are rare cases. It's a first of a kind case for me in my 40 years of service,' the doctor added.

Dyamappa had swallowed 56 five-rupee coins, 51 two-rupee coins and 80 one-rupee coins. His family was also unaware of him swallowing coins.

Apart from Dr Eshwar Kalaburgi, other members of the team included Prakash Kattimani, Roopa Hulakunde and A Archana, all practising doctors.