By Tim Binnall
Doctors treating an Indian man for abdominal pain were astounded when they discovered that his condition was due to a staggering 187 coins in his stomach. The bizarre case reportedly occurred this past Sunday at the Hangal Sri Kumareshwar Hospital in the city of Bagalkot, where the unnamed patient's concerned family had brought him after a mysterious and persistent internal ache led him to start vomiting. Setting about trying to see what could be causing the man's recurring discomfort, medical personnel performed both an x-ray as well as an endoscopy and could not believe their eyes when they saw a monstrous mass of coins in the man's stomach.
As one might imagine, the patient was promptly rushed to surgery where, after two arduous hours, the many monetary obstructions were finally removed. "Lots of coins were stuck in different places of the stomach," explained Dr Eshwar Kalaburgi. All told, it was found that the patient had consumed a jaw-dropping 187 coins, which constituted over 3 pounds of metal sitting in his abdomen. For those keeping score at home, the value of the proverbial 'treasure,' when broken down by denomination, was a mere two dollars and eighteen cents. Doctors later determined that the patient had been eating coins for the last two or three months and attributed the ill-advised diet to "a psychiatric problem," for which he is now being treated.