After snake bite, boy from Nanded can finally move his arm
MUMBAI:DOCTORS of the Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children have performed a hand reconstruction surgery on an eightyear-old boy from Nanded district after he was bitten by a snake that left his arm severely infected.
Shaikh Mahetab, 34, the boy’s father, a daily wage worker, said a Cobra bit his son, Talha, on June 12 at 8pm. “He put his hand under the closet to get the battery of his toy car which had fallen, when the snake attacked him.” The boy had lost the ability to move his fingers in that arm. Mahetab suspects that the reptile entered his house from the jungle behind. Maheteb travelled to Mumbai for treatment on the advice of local doctors.
Dr Nilesh Satbhai, plastic, hand and reconstructive microsurgeon, at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children, who performed the surgery said the snake venom had damaged the muscles of the hand because of which the child could not flex his fingers. “When the patient came to me, he was unable to perform any activities with his deformed left hand. We used fat, skin and blood vessels from his left thigh and transferred it to the hand in a procedure called microvascu- larfreetissuetransfer.” Microvascular surgery in children is complex and relatively uncommon as modulating the paediatric anaesthesia is a challenge, Satbhai added.
While the surgery was performed on October 23, the child was discharged this month. Mahetab said his son is doing well. “Luckily the hospital didn’t charge us for the surgery.”