Mumbai’s first bilateral hand transplant conducted on 24-year-old train accident survivor

A Parel-based hospital on Friday conducted the Mumbai’s first bilateral hand transplant surgery. A team of surgeons performed a bilateral hand transplant on a 24-year-old woman, who had lost both her arms in a train accident six years ago.

The surgery was conducted by a 12-member team led by Dr Nilesh Satbhai at Global Hospital, Parel. The team included plastic, microvascular and reconstructive surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and anaesthetists. The surgery began on Thursday night and went on for almost 15 hours till Friday evening, according to a statement from the hospital.

“The patient has now been shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) postoperatively for further management,” said the hospital.

Monika More, a Kurla resident, had lost both her arms in 2014 when she fell onto the tracks while trying to board a moving train at Ghatkopar railway station. Four years later, she registered for hand transplant surgery at Global Hospital and had been on the waiting list for a donor.

On Thursday, the family of a 30-year-old man, who was declared brain dead at the Chennai branch of Global Hospital, agreed to donate his arms. The limbs were immediately flown to Mumbai on a chartered plane.

While the entire procedure of flying in the donor arms, as well as the surgery, cost around ₹25 lakh, More’s uncle Vishwas Jadhav said that the family has not been charged anything so far.

“Monika is stable and is being observed in the ICU. She is likely to gain consciousness anytime in the next 48 hours,” said Jadhav.

Hospital sources said that it is difficult to predict the recovery time, given the complicated nature of the surgery. “Since the surgery has just been conducted, and for the first time in the city, it is hard to say how long the recovery process will take,” said a source.

“We would like to thank the donor family and the donor hospital for the support extended. The zonal transplant coordination centre of the Transplant Authority, government of Tamil Nadu, Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation and National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation helped in the timely coordination and allocation. It goes without saying that the support extended by traffic police and the airport authorities of Mumbai and Chennai ensured timely transport of the organs,” said an official spokesperson for Global Hospital, Parel.