A Bury St Edmunds firm has revealed its relief after raising enough money to save the life of their colleague, who worked on the other side of the world.

Staff at the business services firm Portcullis Market Access, based off Northgate Street, spearheaded a campaign to raise £4,000 for the care Dhilip Ravichandran, who was knocked off his motorbike by a hit-and-run driver and left in a coma.

They had already put in around £15,000 of their own money and, after giving as much as they could, set up an online appeal for the £4,000, enough to fund the critical care that saved Mr Ravichandran’s life.

He is now out of the coma and despite being unable to talk, is responding to his family and doctors.

Portcullis web developer Mr Ravichandran, who is married and in his 30s, was left for dead on the streets of Chennai, India, on July 11.

The emergency services transported him to a general hospital, where he was bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth, had multiple internal injuries, bone fractures and a fractured skull. He was transferred to a second hospital where the extent and urgency of the treatment was revealed.

After the initial efforts of his colleagues, who paid for the immediate fees for emergency care, he was moved to a third, well-equipped private hospital who ultimately saved his life.

Tim Meadows-Smith, chairman of Portcullis Market Access, said his staff were “incredibly relieved” that Mr Ravichandran had survived, and is now in a stable condition.

Mr Meadows-Smith said: “We are still looking to raise more money – we got around £6,000 online and as a result of our appeal in the end, but he will need constant care and probably more operations to come.

“It may not make sense to people in this country, who are lucky enough to have the free NHS, but with the free care Dhilip would have got without the money, he would have died.

“But he is stable now and out of the coma, we are incredibly relived. He has come a long way already and there have been massive improvements, but we know there is still a long way to go.

“We have committed to at least another year of supporting him and his family, but we know it will likely be longer.

“The moment we learnt what had happened, we knew we had to help him.” He revealed that Mr Ravichandran may have lost his eyesight, after suffering extensive brain damage.

“We will support him as much as we can, not just with the hospital costs but the long period of care and rehabilitation he will need as well,” added Mr Meadows-Smith.

Despite the generosity of many businesses and members of the public, Mr Meadows-Smith stressed that any donation, no matter how much, would go a long way towards support Mr Ravichandran and his family going forward.

Mr Meadows-Smith, who is a member of the Bury, Stowmarket and Suffolk Chambers of Commerce, described Mr Ravichandran as a “very charismatic and likeable” person.

He had visited west Suffolk a number of times, and was actually the winner of the Christmas tombola for the Stowmarket Chamber of Commerce.

To support the fundraising appeal visit http://www.gofundme.com/zyq2adw