Injured boy moved to S'pore hospital

Injured boy moved to S'pore hospital

It has been three days since he was found on Mount Kinabalu with severe head and chest injuries after an earthquake struck, but 11-year-old Prajesh Dhimant Patel has yet to utter a word.

The Tanjong Katong Primary School pupil was yesterday transferred from Sabah's Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu Hospital to Singapore's KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

He is the last Singaporean pupil to return after the disaster at the Sabah mountain last Friday that killed six of his schoolmates.

A group of eight teachers and 29 pupils, including Prajesh, went on an annual expedition to Mount Kinabalu.

All except pupil Navdeep Singh Jaryal Raj Kumar, 13, and teacher Mohammad Ghazi Mohamed, 35, have been accounted for.

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Prajesh, now in KKH's intensive care unit, has not communicated with his family despite slipping in and out of consciousness, a relative said yesterday. "It may be because he's traumatised. It must have been horrific and it was by God's will that he survived."

Gleneagles chief executive Jean-Francois Naa said the boy had "serious head, chest and muscle injuries, and remains in a critical but stable condition". It was decided that Prajesh would be moved to Singapore for further treatment. This is to make the care and support by the family much easier, said Gleneagles.

At KKH yesterday, Prajesh's family remained hopeful that he would pull through.

"All we can do now is pray," said his father.

hpeishan@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on June 9, 2015.
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