Believe it or not, doctors in India have removed some 40 knives from the stomach of a man who had swallowed them in the past three months.

A team of doctors, led by Dr. Jatinder Malholtra, carried out a surgery on the 42-year-old man at a hospital in the northern Indian state of Punjab's Amritsar town and got the knives out successfully.

"The patient did not tell us that he had swallowed the knives. He came to us with stomach pain. Then we found out that he had been literally eating knives after diagnostic tests," he told the media Tuesday.

"It was a complex procedure and we had to really plan well to ensure a successful operation," the doctor said.

Local TV channels reported that the man survived the surgery and was recovering at the hospital, though did not disclose his identity.

Doctors were trying to find out if the man was suffering from physiological disorder.

"He is getting counselling. He has promised that he will never touch a knife again," Malholtra said.

Xinhua