AJ Hospital and Research Centre doctor rejoin child’s severed limbs

MANGALURU: The innocent smile is now back on the face of a two-and half-year-old boy, whose legs were crushed and severed in a train accident that killed his mother at Payyannur on April 29. In an extremely rare case, the two severed legs of Salih have been rejoined at the AJ Hospital and Research Centre in the city. Salih’s mother Sahida, 25, a resident of Pilathara in Payyannur, had died on the spot when a train ran over her in an accident. Meanwhile, the child was lying in a pool of blood with both the legs amputated. The police acted swiftly by shifting the baby and the crushed legs in plastic bags covered with ice cubes to AJ Hospital. A team led by plastic surgeon Dinesh Kadam performed the complex surgery and rejoined both the limbs successfully. Dr Kadam told TOI that it may take at least two months for the baby to recover completely and walk on his own. “Around 10am on April 29, the baby was run over by a train and was brought to the hospital at around 1pm. The was brought in a very critical condition as an unknown patient by the police. Both the limbs were well preserved by covering them in a polythene cover packed with ice cubes. It was a quiet complex surgery because joining limbs was very tough as there were lot of damages. We had to join the blood vessels and nerves. Lot of blood was also lost in the accident. It was extremely a rare situation as the baby is too young for a bilateral surgery, especially on both limbs at a time,” Dr Kadam said. Since there were no relatives with the child initially, the hospital took care of him and conducted surgery to reattach two legs, he said. “The child is much better now and he is eating a normal diet. All his health parameters are satisfactory. However, he needs to undergo few more surgeries for complete recovery. Physiotherapy will also be needed in the later stage,” he added.