Bengaluru: Isha (name changed), an engineer in her early 20s was living her best life in Mumbai after securing campus placement. When she eventually moved to Bengaluru, every small fight started to irritate her. One day, in the spur of the moment, she ended up drinking an acid-based toilet cleaner. The family managed to break in to the bathroom and save her and what followed were complex medical procedures across hospitals. Finally, the doctors at the Institute of Gastroenterology and Organ Transplant (IGOT), a public health institution in Bengaluru, ended up constructing a new food pipe for her.The doctors at this institute now face the unique challenge of helping suicide survivors regain their quality of life after they ingested acid or rat poison.According to Dr Nagesh NS, director of IGOT, the long-term impact of such attempts is often devastating. “Those who ingest acid are left with a burnt oesophagus, damaging their food pipe, voice box, or even the stomach. Those who ingest rat poison are left with severe liver damage,” he said. For patients who consume acid and suffer extensive internal injuries, IGOT performs a complex reconstructive surgery known as oesophagocoloplasty. “In this procedure, we construct a food pipe in the throat using a portion of the colon, which is then connected to the stomach. It is a complex procedure, and the course of treatment is around six months,” Dr Nagesh said.While the surgery and associated treatment, including prolonged hospitalisation, can cost anywhere between Rs 10–15 lakh in private hospitals, the procedure is performed free of cost at IGOT. Between 2022 and 2025, the hospital carried out 29 such surgeries. In cases where the burns are less severe, doctors attempt endoscopic repair instead of surgery.Dr Nagesh said, “A large share of the survivors who come to us are from weaker socioeconomic backgrounds and are usually referrals from neighbouring Victoria Hospital or other hospitals in the city. Most of them are males and are often troubled by substance abuse or financial woes.”He also pointed to a striking pattern he observed among survivors. In cases where patients are forced to choose between preserving their ability to eat or speak, “they invariably choose food,” he said. Isha, a survivor seconds this opinion. “While till date she has not told us why exactly she attempted to take her own life, but she has since mentioned multiple times that she regrets taking that step, especially when she sees friends her age getting married or moving out and about,” a family member said. However, today, despite her struggle with health, Isha earns a salary of Rs 1 lakh a month at her new job and is on the track of normalcy. PLEX therapyPatients who ingest rat poison are treated with PLEX (plasma exchange) therapy, a process in which the patient’s blood is filtered to remove harmful toxins, antibodies, or inflammatory proteins from the plasma. The discarded plasma is replaced with albumin or saline before the cleaned blood is returned to the body. “We conduct about 60 cycles of PLEX therapy every month, and around 20 patients undergo around three sessions on average at a nominal rate. In private hospitals, this would cost Rs 20,000–30,000 per session. It is like dialysis for the liver,” Dr Nagesh said.IGOT was inaugurated in Oct 2021 and since its inception, the hospital has conducted 42 free liver transplants, performed over 5,800 surgeries, 39,000 endoscopic procedures, and treated 1,653 major cancer cases.
