Mumbai's train accident victim discharged after hand transplant

Monika More, who underwent first bilateral hand transplant at a private hospital here, has been discharged from the facility, doctors said.

Following the 23-year-old woman's hand transplant surgery, the hospital has received nearly two dozen queries from other patients for a similar surgery.

More lost her hands in an accident at Ghatkopar railway station here in 2014 while trying to board a train. She was subsequently provided artificial limbs by doctors here.

Last month, a brain dead man's hands were airlifted from Chennai to Mumbai and transplanted on More.

After a nearly month-long stay at the hospital, she was discharged on Saturday.

"We are currently suppressing her immune system so that her body accepts the transplanted hands. She is under medical treatment and intense physiotherapy," a doctor from the hospital said.

"She is advised not to step out of her home except for routine visit to the hospital to avoid any chances of infection," he said.

More said it was her fathers dream to get her new hands.

"I waited for almost two years and finally came to know that a Chennai-based brain dead patients family was ready for hand donation. I got new hands on the night of August 28 but my father died before that," she said.

More thanked doctors at the hospital for providing her new hands as well as mental support to go through the extensive medical procedure.