MTRH re-implants a man's limb after an 11-hour surgery

A team of doctors from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) have successfully re-implanted an amputated hand of a 35-year-old man after an 11-hour operation.

The man identified as BK sustained the injury in an alleged domestic assault on August 8, at his home in Sigowet, Kericho County before he was referred to MTRH from Sigowet Sub-county Hospital.

A statement by the MTRH Chief Executive Dr Wilson Aruasa, stated that the patient sustained the injury on his left hand and arrived at MTRH at 4pm with his severed limb preserved in a cool box.

Dr Aruasa said that upon admission to the theatre, two teams embarked on surgery to re-implant the severed limb, an exercise that ended at 3am. He said the surgery was successful, and the patient was moved from ICU to the general ward, where he will continue with daily reviews and occupational therapy rehabilitation.

“The patient is doing well post-operatively. Today August 13, he was moved from ICU to the general orthopaedics (male) ward where he will continue with daily reviews or initiation of occupational therapy rehabilitation,” said Dr Aruasa. “The hand is vitally and successfully re-established with good Doppler ultrasound findings.”

The surgical team of 14 was led by Dr Paul Mwangi (MTRH consultant orthopaedics and trauma), Dr Harsh Vadgama (shoulder surgeon), Dr Brian Christie (plastic surgeon), Dr Andrew Vernadi (plastic surgeon) and Dr Gregory Wekesa (orthopaedics and trauma resident).

The CEO noted that the country has three hand specialist surgeons based in Nairobi, Nakuru and MTRH. He said MTRH supported Dr Mwangi to undertake his hand surgery training at the University of The Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015/16.

Dr Aruasa said MTRH will facilitate the enrolment of the patient into the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).