A 49-year-old man, who was admitted to a private hospital with a kitchen knife stuck in his back, was discharged on Saturday afternoon.

The knife had but missed the lungs by “less than half an inch”.

“The Garia resident was admitted around 11pm on March 10 (Wednesday). The knife was stuck next to his right shoulder blade but it missed the lungs by less than half an inch. The knife fractured a rib, which preven-ted the blade from going deeper and damaging the lungs,” said an official of the hospital.

The man is said to have told police that he slipped back first and fell on the knife, said an official of the hospital.

He was operated upon the same night. A CT scan was done before the surgery.

“He was lucky that the knife did not touch the lungs,” said Soham Majumdar, critical care physician at AMRI Dhakuria, where the surgery took place.

“The rib cage around the lungs has been damaged. One bone has had multiple fractures. But that will heal over time. The challenge was to gauge the extent of the injury and respond quickly, which we did,” Majumdar added.