Mumbai: In a rare surgery, doctors at Mumbai's JJ Hospital re-attached a COVID-19 patient's arm, which was cut severed in an accident.
Ajit Kumar, a native of Uttar Pradesh, met with an accident at Byculla Railway Station on March 16.
In an 11-hour surgery, Dr Chandrakant Gharwade and Dr Yogesh Jaiswal reattached the nerves and muscles of the detached hand to Kumar's body and covered it with skin.
As suggested by Dr Mankeshwar, JJ Hospital dean and Dr Surare, the hospital's superintendent, Dr Yogesh Jaiswal got Kumar admitted at the government-run G T hospital.
In an RT-PCR test, he tested positive for COVID-19 and Kumar was shifted to St George Hospital. In an antigen test conducted later, he tested negative.
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"First six hours are crucial and very important in cases when a part of the body gets detached accidentally. It is the golden period. A nerve from his leg had to be used to attach the nerves in the broken hand. It took six hours. Then the muscles were attached. A part of the skin from the stomach was removed and it was used to cover the broken and mended part of the hand. In all, the surgery took 11 hours. He was constantly being monitored," Dr Jaiswal said.
A team of doctors from JJ Hospital would visit him every day to dress his wounds. "We would play songs and videos from Uttar Pradesh, and in his native language, so we could keep him mentally stable as he was shocked and devastated after the accident," Dr Jaiswal said.
Dr Gharwade said though the hand has been attached, some more surgeries are needed to make it mobile. "We will be conducting another two surgeries at least which would help Kumar use his hand smoothly. We have already started planning and the whole team has contributed to the success of this surgery," he said.
