Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu spoke to Visakhapatnam Collector Pravin Kumar on Tuesday and said that the state government would help with the treatment of Dr Balaji Bushan Patnaik, who was recently injured in an acid attack.
Dr Patnaik, who hails from Cuttack, was a paediatrician working at the Seven Hills Hospital. He was attacked with acid near Pandimetta Power Station by two unidentified persons while he was returning home from work last week.
Naidu also ordered the probe into the attack to be expedited, following which Pravin Kumar spoke to city Police Commissioner T Yoganand.
According to the police, on the day of the incident, two men had approached Patnaik’s car from behind and knocked on his car window. When Patnaik rolled down the window, one of them flung acid on his face and the duo fled the spot on a motorbike.
As the doctor screamed in pain, a crowd of locals gathered who then rushed him to the LV Prasad Eye Hospital and from there to the ICU of the Seven Hills Hospital.
The attack has shocked locals in the area as well as the medical community in the city, as it was the first of its kind.
Police are yet to establish the motive for the attack.
According to his friends, who are crowdfunding Dr Patnaik's treatment, he has almost lost one eye and has 80-90% facial and neck burns.
The victim is currently in Nair Hospital Mumbai, where he needs to undergo facial reconstruction surgery, which is estimated to cost around Rs 40 lakh or more.
Since the cost of the surgery and treatment is high, his batchmates and colleagues from the medical community are using Facebook and WhatsApp to raise funds for Dr Patnaik.
Speaking to TNM, Nilamadhab Prusty, a friend of Dr Patnaik earlier said, "I've known him since 2001 and we were batchmates in college when we were doing our MBBS. The online campaign is a combined effort of all our batchmates who want to help him. All of us are donating as the treatment is costly."