JOIN USGenerous hands that saved a boy
Chetan joined A R Swamy’s printing press as a trainee 10 days ago. On September 20, as the regular operator was absent, Chetan tried his hand at operating the book cutting machine. Yet to learn the tricks of the trade, he fumbled for a moment and lost both his hands. “It all happened in a split second. Before I realised what happened, I became unconscious,” Chetan recalls.
His co-workers immediately informed Swamy who called his doctor-friend. The doctor instructed him to put the severed hands in a plastic bag and in a box filled with ice. Following the instructions, Swamy did just that, making it possible for doctors to later sew the hands back on Chetan’s arms.
“We took Chetan to two hospitals for first aid, but they told us they did not have the facility to attend to this kind of injury. After one-and-a-half hours, we reached Panacea Hospital where doctors took him for surgery,” Swamy said.
At the hospital, the team comprising orthopaedic and plastic and microvascular surgeons performed the surgery and sutured both of Chetan’s hands in just four-and-a-half hours. “Bringing the severed hands first to the hospital played a major role in saving Chetan, although his colleagues brought him well over an hour and half after the incident. The patient had lost a lot of blood and a delay of 15-30 minutes would have cost him his life,” said Dr Jayanna, Managing Director, Panacea Hospital.
The doctor also praised the timely action of Swamy in preserving the hands properly and thereby preventing any infection. “Since the cut was sharp, we were able to attach the hands again to the arms. In fact, the neuron cells, once sutured, are the first to get reconnected. That’s the beauty of neuron cells that help the patient regain sense in both hands,” he said.
Age advantage
Dr Jayanna said Chetan’s hands would regain 90 per cent of their functioning, since age was an advantage in his case. However, most of such cases fail, he said. “He was in shock initially. We had to transfuse five units of blood. Even after the surgery, the patient had pain for three to four days. But now he is comfortable,” Dr Jayanna said.
Chetan’s employer Swamy bore the entire cost of Rs two lakh for the surgery. Swamy told Deccan Herald that he was also willing to take Chetan back to work. Chetan lost his father two years ago. He lives with his mother and an elder brother, both of whom are also employed.