Doctors in Karnataka's Raichur district have removed 187 coins from a man’s stomach after he complained of a stomach ache. Dyamappa Harijan, a 58-year-old resident of Lingasugur swallowed 187 coins of various denominations before being admitted to the hospital by his family on Saturday, November 26.

A team of doctors consisting of Eshwar Kalaburgi, Prakash Kattimani, Roopa Hulakunde and A Archana removed coins weighing a total of 1.5 kilograms from the patient’s stomach. The fact that he had consumed more than 1.5 kg of the coins over a period of two to three months astonished the doctors. The coins left the patient severely swollen and with profuse vomiting. After a two-hour surgery, the extracted coins scattered around a table were photographed at Hangal Sri Kumareshwar Hospital in Bagalkot, Karnataka. In other pictures, the coins can be seen perfectly arranged in a line inside the man's stomach, as seen by the physicians' bewildered endoscope.

According to The Hindu, the patient was suffering from Pica, an eating disorder. "Had there been one coin, we would have removed it through Endoscopy, but in this case there were many. So we had to operate on him," Eshwar Kalburgi told PTI. The patient is now stable after the operation, the doctor said adding, this was a unique case in his career.