Face of 11/7 blasts dies after 9 years in hospital

MUMBAI: Parag Sawant (36), left in a vegetative state since July 11, 2006 blasts in which seven RDX-laden pressure cookers ripped through local train compartments, passed away on Tuesday. His end came rather abruptly at Mahim’s P D Hinduja Hospital, which he could never leave since the day he was admitted.
Much like the past nine years, on Tuesday, too, his mother Madhuri stood by bed number 27 in the hospital’s eighth floor as the staff nurse checked his vital parameters.In the next 30 minutes, everything changed just like it did after the blasts.
His oxygen saturation levels dipped around 6am. He was immediately provided oxygen support but he suffered a respiratory arrest soon after. Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he was declared dead at 6.54am. “He was stable till yesterday,” said hospital authorities.
Unlike 2008, this time there was no miracle. Parag turned his family’s despair into unshakeable hope when he opened his eyes after remaining in deep coma for two years. “It was a big surprise, almost spectacular, something I had never seen in my career of 35 years,” said his doctor and consulting neurosurgeon Dr B K Mishra. “He had started opening his eyes, smiling and recognizing his family members. It was a big deal for a patient who had such extensive brain damage. It gave us immense hope because in such cases if a patient does not improve in six months, there is very little chance,” Mishra added.
The blast had left Parag with multiple skull fractures. His wife Priti, pregnant at the time of the blast, delivered a girl as Parag underwent more than seven neurosurgical and orthopedic procedures one after another.
Over the years, Parag’s daughter Prachiti often accompanied his mother and grandparents to the hospital and became well-acquainted with doctors and nurses. In an earlier interview, his wife had told TOI how he instructed his mother over phone that Prachiti should study properly.
The hospital, though, maintained that he never regained normal speech. The family’s hopes were raised in 2011 when Parag began to utter a few disjointed words. “He once told me to be quiet as he was on the phone with his wife,” said his maternal uncle Suresh Salunkhe. His doctor Mishra, though, said, “He never returned to normal. He only improved to some extent.” What they agreed on was that Parag had a strong will to live. He would tide over repeated infections and epileptic convulsions and hit rock bottom, only to bounce back.
Priti, who now works with the Western Railways, held on to eight-year-old Prachiti and cried as she heard the news of her husband’s death on Tuesday. Prachiti, a Class IV student, kept asking her grandmother about her father's health. The four-storey Ramabai apartment building where Parag grew up wore a gloomy look. His 50-odd childhood friends returned home early from offices and got down to preparing for his funeral.
Staffers from Hinduja Hospital who looked after him 24/7 were also grieving. “Nurses who did not speak in Marathi attempted to communicate with him in his language. We would tell him ‘Parag it is night, go to bed’, or ‘did you like the breakfast’ and he would respond,” said nursing director Phalakshi Manjrekar. “We have lost a family member,” she said.
The Western Railway continued to pay for his treatment till the end. Parag’s body has been kept in Hinduja’s mortuary after a post-mortem was carried out in Sion Hospital. The family is waiting for his brother, who works at Bombay High, to fly back on Wednesday. His body will be cremated at the Goddev crematorium at 11.30am.
BJP MLA Kirit Somaiya, who was in touch with the family, said it was Parag’s will power that kept him alive for nine years. “He gave us hope that he would get back on his feet soon,” said Somaiya.
(With inputs from Manthan K Mehta)