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Kochi: ‘This is the hand that worked for us… the hand that shadowed us for many years…’ Sujata burst into tears as she stroked that palm filled with memories. Daughter Neetu too couldn’t hold back her tears at the memory of her father. Vinodinera, who died in a car accident in Kollam, donated her hands to Amaresh (25), a native of Karnataka. The emotional scene was when Amaresh and Vinod’s family were seen together after the surgery.
Sujata’s words also brought to mind another family. Alappuzha native Ambali, who died while undergoing treatment in a car accident, also donated his hands to Iraqi citizen Yusif Hasan Saeed Al Suwaini (29).
All the four families came together in a ceremony held at Amrita Hospital, where both of them were transplanted successfully. Ambili’s younger daughter Anantha and mother-in-law Vatsalakumari cried seeing Yusif’s hands. Holding Ananthu with his mother’s arms, Yusif said: ‘This is my second birth. You gave it too’.
A few years ago, Amaresh, a junior powerman at the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company in Karnataka, was electrocuted on the job and lost both his hands. The surgery was on January 5. The right hand is placed below the elbow and the left hand is placed close to the shoulder.
The hands of Vinod, a native of Kollam, who suffered brain death due to a car accident, were successfully stitched in an 18-hour long surgery at Amrita Hospital in Kochi. The accident happened when Vinod’s bike collided with a private bus. Vinod was admitted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital with severe head injuries, but brain death occurred on January 4, 2022. Then Vinod’s organ donation scheme would complete the process.
Joe from the Center for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department of Amrita Hospital said that this was the third such surgery in the world and the first in Asia. Subrahmanya Iyer, Jo. Mohit Sharma said.
Yousuf, a construction worker in Iraq, lost his hands due to electric shock in April 2019. Since 2015, 11 people have had their hands transplanted at Amrita Hospital.