Delhi doctors reconstruct fingers for 10-year-old from his toes

(Representational image)

New Delhi: Using the big toe and second toe to reconstruct the middle and index finger of a 10-year-old boy, a team of doctors performed a complex surgery at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.

The boy had suffered severe burns on both his hands after he accidentally touched an electric rod used for heating water in 2014.

Both his hands had to be partially amputated because they had developed gangrene.

While the child survived the electrical burns with the help of multiple surgeries, his amputation deprived him of the ability to even hold a pen.

Doctors said that with this surgery, he will be able to hold things. A leading daily quoted Dr Rakesh Kain, professor of plastic surgery at Safdarjung hospital — who led the surgery — saying that grafting of toes as fingers is a rare and complex surgery. "It took us nearly 10 hours. We started the surgery at 9:00 am and it went on till 6:00 pm," he added.

First, the doctors harvested the toes with intact blood circulation. To avoid mistakes, this was done under microscopic view.

Badal Singh, the child's father, told the leading daily that Safdarjung doctors have given his child a new life.