Ring returned to doctor after traveling 100 miles in pocket of scrubs

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A doctor in Britain was reunited with her diamond ring after the precious item took a nearly 100-mile journey in the pocket of a pair of scrubs.

Suraj Shah, an anesthetics registrar at the Royal Free Hospital in London, said he donned a freshly-laundered pair of scrubs as he prepared for his shift.

"As I put the scrubs on something clattered to the floor and a colleague spotted the ring and alerted me," Shah said in a news release. "At first I thought maybe one of the nurses here had lost the ring and I put the word out through the nurse in charge. I checked with the doctors as well but nothing so I contacted our facilities team."

The facilities team contacted its laundry service and discovered a doctor had reported a ring missing after leaving it in the pocket of her scrubs at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in Bury St. Edmunds, nearly 100 miles away.

Radhika Ramasamy, a consultant anesthetist, said she had put the ring in her pocket about five days before it was discovered by Shah.

"I meant to put the ring back on afterwards but ended up doing another procedure and forgot about it. It wasn't until the evening of the next day that I realized it was missing and then it was the weekend so I didn't report it to my facilities team till the Monday," Ramasamy said. "To be honest I never expected to get it back as I thought it would be crushed in the machinery at the laundry."

She said she was overjoyed to be reunited with her ring.

"I know it's been an incredible team effort and I am so appreciative of how so many people have gone the extra mile to track me down and return it to me," she said.

Shah said he was happy to have been able to help.

"It's nice to feel part of a bit of a little miracle. I'm delighted the ring has been reunited with Radhika," he said.