A few days back, 24-year-old engineering student Prashant Chalotra returned home tired and went to sleep. Turning in his bed, he felt a sharp pinch on the left side of his chest. It was a needle that had pierced halfway into his heart. “I suddenly woke up and saw a small portion of the needle protruding from my chest. But as I bent forward to pull it out, the needle penetrated further in,” said the Jammu resident.

For three days, the 4cm long sewing needle remained stuck in Prashant’s heart. Doctors in Jammu operated on him to take it out but they just couldn’t find it. Prashant was finally brought to the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC) in the capital. There, doctors performed a tricky surgery, and even used a magnet, to extricate the needle out without damaging the heart.

His mother, Soma Devi, said, “We rushed him to the government medical college, but the doctors there gave us some medicines and said everything was fine. They asked us to return in three days as they were on strike.”