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Swift action all-round saves severed hand of Sitapur labourer
Doctors at King George?s Medical University (KGMU) in India successfully reattached a labourer's severed hand after a 10-hour microvascular surgery. The patient is expected to make a full recovery.
Timely action, proper medical protocol and swift action by doctors at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) helped save the hand of a labourer which got severed from the wrist in an accident in Sitapur district, recently.
Rohit Kumar, 29, met with an accident while working with a JCB on July 19. He was rushed to Sitapur district hospital where doctors cleaned the severed body part arranged for an ice pack, and immediately rushed the injured person to KGMU for microvascular surgery.
“Our team swung into action as soon as we got the patient into the trauma centre. It took us 10 hours to complete the microvascular surgery to get the tissues, nerves and the wrist reunited with the body,” said Prof Vijay Kumar, HoD, plastic surgery: the department that treated the man.
Prof Kumar said, “The credit for a successful operation also goes to the first responders and to doctors at the Sitapur district hospital who did all that was required to bring the severed body part and the injured man to us swiftly and under medical protocol.”
The patient was discharged and will come for follow-up examinations for a few weeks before he is allowed to work.
Prof Kumar said that in case a limb is severed, the body part should be wrapped in a clean cloth, kept in a plastic bag and packed with ice from all sides. Blood loss should be stopped and the injured should be brought to a medical centre immediately as the golden period to reunite the severed body part is within six to eight hours of injury.
