Assam doctor scripts success story in 'limb reattachment'

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Oct 8: Assam has scripted the Northeast’s one of the success stories in medical science – reattachment of a limb severed from the body within six hours of an accident. The Ashthami of this Durga Puja was the day when Dr. Chandan g Choudhury successfully conducted the region’s first such surgery.

Talking to The Sentinel, Dr. Choudhury said: “It took long ten hours to me and my team to get the severed left hand of an over-forty-year-old man reattached to his body. It takes at least ten hours to restore the stalled blood circulation to a severed hand reattached to the body. Such patients can attain the ability to move their reattached hands within six months, slowly. Even when everything seems to be normal, reattached hand or hands look a bit smaller.”

Spelling out as to how people facing such problems should do or act instantly after an accident or otherwise, Dr. Choudhury said: “As and when a person has his/her limb severed from his/her body due to accident or otherwise, the severed limb can be reattached to the body provided it is taken wrapped in a soft towel, if possible with ice, to a surgeon within six hours of the accident. In such incident one should always keep his/her hopes alive. Surgeons can do the rest.”

The success story is a remarkable one for the medical fraternity in the Northeast. “It was the Mahasthami Day of the Durga Puja when I was leading a team of ten doctors aptly assisted by nurses and other medical staff. After around ten hours we could achieve the success. In such cases one shouldn’t lose his/her hopes. We need to hope against hopes and try to do the utmost we can,” Dr. Choudhury said.