ADDISBBA – Doctors extracted over a hundred iron nails and other sharp objects from the stomach of a patient in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa earlier this week.
Doctors said the 33-year-old patient is suffering from mental illness and had apparently consumed the items, including 122 four-inch nails, four pins, a toothpick and pieces of broken glass.
The patient was suffering from mental illness for the last 10 years and had stopped taking his medication two years ago, one probable reason he started consuming inanimate objects, said the surgeon who after a two and a half hour operation extracted those objects.
The surgeon said that the patient had consumed the objects with the help of water, however, he was lucky that those sharp objects didn’t cut his stomach, which could lead to serious infections and even death, he said, adding that the patient was recovering well.