By A few years ago, Raj Kumar had the worst day of his life. A painter living in India tried to cross a train track on his bike when he fell and became stuck. As he looked down the tracks, his nightmare became a reality. A train was barreling down at him. He tried to get away but was still struck. The accident cost him his arms. Â
At least, that’s what he thought. Following a surgery that lasted 12 hours, Kumar is one of the first people in the history of the world to receive an arm transplant.Â
Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, India are being hailed as miracle workers, The Daily Mail writes.
Medics reattached his nerves, veins, muscles, and skin to the new female arms.
The limbs were donated by Meena Mehta, a headteacher of a school in south Delhi, after she was declared brain dead and had died.
The decorator had both limbs severed after ‘a train accident when he was riding on a cycle and had lost control’.
The procedure was performed by a team led by Dr Mahesh Mangal, who heads the department of plastic and cosmetic surgery at the hospital.
A man who lost both arms in an accident has received a pair of limbs from a woman donor after undergoing a rare transplant surgery in India. pic.twitter.com/NIODSQ2pcl
— DW News (@dwnews) March 11, 2024
Speaking with The Indian Express, one of the doctors who worked on the team, Dr Swaroop Singh Gambhir, “said they selected Kumar as he was a bilateral amputee and took the hands from Mehta, who was a multi-organ donor.
‘Once we selected the patient, and did the blood match we got to know he was the fit candidate for the patient. We took the hands and we fixed the bones first with plates and screws and we fixed the muscles and then artery and the nerve,’ Dr Gambhir.
Dr Gambhir said precision and expertise were the keys to ensuring the seamless integration of the transplanted hands into Kumar’s body. Raj Kumar recovered in six weeks after the surgery and Dr Gambhir said Kumar is doing fine now and will be discharged later on Wednesday”
Meena Mehta was also able to save someone else’s life. She generously donated one of her kidneys to Fortis Gurgaon, providing a fresh opportunity for a patient to embrace life. Concurrently, her hands, liver, and corneas served as catalysts for transformation at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, presenting recipients with newfound possibilities.
Cant India use Bionic limbs??