The doctors of Kailash hospital here have successfully replanted a severed index finger of an eight year boy. Informing about the incident, the senior plastic surgeon of the hospital, Dr Harish Ghildiyal said that the incident occurred in the evening of May 18 at Rishikesh when little Shaurya while playing with the fodder cutting machine got his index finger trapped in the rotating blades of the machine. The finger got completely severed and the alarmed parents took the profusely bleeding boy and his amputated finger to a nearby hospital. The hospital immediately referred the case to a higher centre. The boy was rushed to the Himalayan Hospital, Jollygrant where the severed finger was put in a plastic bag covered in an ice box. The parents later decided to the shift the child to the Kailash hospital where the doctors decided an immediate reconstructive surgery. The team of doctors started the surgery at 10.30 pm which went on till 5.30 am next morning.
Recounting the case, Dr Ghildiyal said that the case was very complicated as children have very small vessels and the finger was severed at terminal area where the diameter of blood vessels is less than 0.5 mm. “It takes long hours of pain staking micro surgery with the help of high precision and specialised micro instruments to do such complicated surgery,’’ he said. The plastic surgeon said that the time factor is very important in such cases and the patient should be taken to a centre having facility of micro surgery. The doctor said that the severed organ should be wrapped in a clean cloth and put in sealed plastic bag. This bag should be kept in an ice box and the patient should be immediately taken to the hospital.