SHAH ALAM, Feb 21 — Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim was semi-conscious and showed signs of pneumothorax, which is a collapsed lung, when he was wheeled into the Subang Jaya Medical Centre emergency department on the night of the Sri Mahamariamman temple riots in Subang Jaya last November.
Speaking at the fireman’s inquest here today, Dr MK Nantha Kumeran, 39, said the injured fireman also suffered four fractured ribs, adding that he believed the injuries could have been from a blunt force trauma.
“I examined him and noticed no marks on his face and neck, his limbs were not broken, but there were bruises on his upper right chest wall and shoulders.
“When I touched the upper right chest wall, I could hear cracking sounds, sounded like his ribs were broken, so our suspicion was that he was suffering from pneumothorax,” he said when asked by government lawyer Zhafran Rahim Hamza what triggered his decision to request for a chest X-ray.
The doctor explained that Adib had difficulty breathing, and his blood oxygen saturation levels were half of what was considered normal.
Dr Nantha Kumeran the X-rays showed the fireman’s second, third, fourth, and fifth ribs were fractured, while also showing the latter’s collapsed lungs.
“The injury to the lungs looked like it was from blunt force trauma, as his lungs appeared white in the X-ray. Normally it should appear as pitch black,” he replied when questioned by Zhafran on the probable cause of the lung injuries.
He explained the scans on Adib had to be done in his cubicle with a portable X-ray machine as his condition was too unstable to be wheeled into the radiology room.
Dr Nantha Kumeran was the 12th witness to take the witness stand.
Also present were Mohd Kamaruzaman A.Wahab, Syazlin Mansor, and Mohd Tajudin Abd Razak, lawyers representing Muhammad Adib’s family, with Coroner Rofiah Mohamad Mansor presiding.
He had explained how the anaesthesiologist and cardiothoracic surgeon on-call were then alerted, and arrived shortly after.
In that time, Dr Nantha Kumeran said he had to administer muscle relaxants into Adib, as he was clenching down on his teeth as doctors wanted to start the intubation process to allow the victim to breathe.
He then administered fluid resuscitation through intravenous drip, and took blood samples of Adib.
When his vitals had showed slight improvement, Dr Nantha Kumeran said Adib was then wheeled into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where the cardiothoracic surgeon then took over.
The inquest will continue on Monday, pending a court decision of an appeal for the inquest to be halted by the temple committee task force.
