Keralite carpenter gets a rare thumb transplant

In a rare four-hour-long surgery, a Keralite whose thumb and left index finger were severed in a accident at his wood making unit got a new lease of life with a city hospital reattaching the index finger to the thumb position.
Umar Kutty (38), the carpenter-cum-owner, met with the accident while working on a plywood cutting machine at his unit at Al Quasem Mureda in Saudi Arabia on October 5. He was rushed to National Hospital and after first aid, was shifted to Riyadh Care Hospital, which said they could not reattach his fingers as microsurgery facility was not available.

However Kutty was desperate to have the operation done as he would be unable to continue his work without his thumb. His relative told him about city based Ganga hospital where such a surgery could be done.
Riyadh Care hospital then packed the amputated fingers for the flight back home. Kutty reached the hospital on October 7. Doctors who examined him felt the amputated thumb was badly injured and not fit for reattachment. As the thumb length is crucial for function of the hand, the amputated index finger was reattached in the position of the thumb.
He was discharged on October 19 and is doing well now, Dr S Raja Sabapathy, Director, Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery and Burns at the hospital, who performed the four-hour surgery, said in a release today.

Dr Sabapathy said the thumb would get sensation in a few months and Kutty would not have any disability.