Bengaluru:

Doctors of Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute (BMCRI) Super Speciality Hospital successfully reattached the forearm of a 60-year-old man in a 12-hour operation. This is the first time a reconstruction surgery of such complexity has been undertaken by a government hospital in the State.

At 7.30 a.m. on January 22, Subbanna had got off a train at K.R. Puram station to visit his grandson Naveen who works in the city. But he slipped and fell. His forearm got severed when it came under one of the wheels.

“Other passengers pulled him up to the platform and called me. I took him to Bowring & Lady Curzon Hospital,” said Naveen. Doctors put the severed arm in a plastic bag, which was packed with ice.

Subbanna was then taken to BMCRI Super Speciality Hospital. The operation required expertise of the departments of plastic surgery, orthopaedics and anaesthesiology. “We had to identify arteries, veins and muscles and dissect them to identify where to attach them to the corresponding part on the severed arm,” said Smitha Segu, head of the department of plastic surgery.

“We are hoping that he will get sensation in four to six months. He will have to undergo orthopaedic procedures for another 1.5 years,” said Gautham M., associate professor, plastic surgery department, BMCRI.

Ramlingaiah, professor, orthopaedics department, BMCRI, said, “A surgery of this scale would cost between ₹6 lakh and ₹10 lakh in any private hospital in India. But our team did it for around Rs. 50,000.”

However, since it was the first such operation at the hospital, BMCRI has waived off the fee.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / February 13th, 2017