First Double Hand Transplant In Tamil Nadu Gives 30-Year-Old A New Lease Of Life

Organ and tissue transplant organisations are essential to any healthy country in this world. With proper awareness campaigns and effective volunteering, people can be given a new lease of life. In this generation of the world wide web where everyone is texting and posting pictures at the speed of light, we forget to stay in the present moment and appreciate the finer things in life.

30-year-old Narayanasamy had forgotten how it felt to comb his hair, button his shirt, carry out daily chores when he burnt both his hands in an accident in 2015. He had accidentally touched a high-tension wire at a construction site and both his hands had to be amputated.

Times of India reported that Narayanasamy underwent a 13-hour-surgery and got the first double hand transplant in Tamil Nadu in February. Last Monday, he hit a jackpot when he was also appointed as the ward manager at a government hospital in Dindigul.

The surgery was conducted at the Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai where his hands below the elbow were reconstructed. His transplant could take place due to the donation of an accident victim¡¯s hands who was declared brain dead.

Photo: BCCL/Narayanasamy, who underwent hands transplant after losing both hands, is greeted by chief minister Edappadi K Palanisamy

He got a call last year from transplant surgeons and now Narayanasamy is just like any other human being. Once a hand transplant is performed, the bones, arteries, muscles, nerves, tendons veins and soft tissues in the patient¡¯s hands are connected to the donor's hand.

However, after an organ transplant, a patient will have to take regular medicines to suppress the immune system so that it doesn¡¯t reject or fight the new organ. The patient is also kept under long-term intensive physiotherapy to restore the function of the organ.

¡°I can comb my hair, wear my shirt, eat food with a spoon, lift a coffee mug and drink, bowl in a match and answer calls on my mobile,¡± the newly appointed ward manager told TOI.

The patient¡¯s surgeon Dr Rama Devi said that though Narayanasamy was feeling pressure and pain on the new hands' further therapy would help improve his touch. The medical staff had enjoyed his company as well and said that they would miss him.

Photo: BCCL

On Monday, after the discharge, he went to state secretariat to collect his appointment letter from the Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami. The health minister of Tamil Nadu took pride in the surgery and said that the 30-year-old will always remain their ambassador.

He said that they will tell people how the state was able to do a world-class surgery free of cost and encourage others to donate hands and other organs as well. There are many misconceptions around organ donation in India. People feel that the body of the deceased will get disengaged once they agree to organ donation. While many take a pledge to donate their organs, hardly a fraction of them end up abiding by their promise.