Hand transplant patient able to move fingers
MUMBAI: On the day of Raksha Bandhan, King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital’s plastic surgeon Dr Vinita Puri sterilised a colourful piece of thread and tied it over the plastered hand of 21-year-old Rahul Ahirwar. Two weeks ago, Ahirwar, a bilateral amputee, became the first person to undergo a hand transplant at a public hospital in the city. The gesture by the doctor left him emotional.
“Someone could tie a rakhi to me after two years. It felt really good,” Ahirwar told Hindustan Times on Monday. Now in an isolation room at KEM Hospital, Ahirwar is monitored 24X7 by a doctor, a nurse and a ward boy. Doctors said the transplanted hand had not faced any acute rejection, which was a good sign. Ahirwar also had some movement in the fingers.
A native of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Ahirwar’s forearms were crushed in a mishap in 2019. As his wound healed, Ahirwar watched online videos to learn how other amputees managed their daily activities. It was on the internet that he first read about the possibility of a hand transplant and even visited Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi that had carried out India’s first such procedure. He later visited KEM Hospital, and after a battery of tests, was registered on the waiting list for the transplant.
He received a call from the hospital on August 11, informing about a possibility of a donor – a young brain-dead patient. “He was so determined to undergo the procedure. He had stayed put in the city from early this year,” said Dr Puri, who led the team of doctors that conducted the 14-hour procedure.
However, on the day of the surgery, doctors discovered a problem with the blood vessels in Ahirwar’s left hand. The team, therefore, decided to proceed with the right hand transplant. “The trauma on left side was such that the tissues were badly crushed and the muscles were stretched,” said plastic surgeon Dr Venkateshwaran N.
The doctors conduct a skin biopsy every week to gauge if there are any signs of rejection. Gradually, they will start Ahirwar on physical rehabilitation, for which he will have to be in the city for at least a year. He will also have to be on immunosuppressants for life, which cost between ₹2 lakh and ₹3 lakh per year. KEM Hospital’s charitable fund received a donation from MP Chief Minister’s Fund, and a few doctors from KEM also contributed for Ahirwar. But the hospital hopes to collect more funds for his medication for the next few years. Ahirwar now hopes to find work to support his stay in Mumbai. “I want to work as soon as I feel better,” said Ahirwar, who aspires to appear for the civil services examination after graduation.