AP docs operate on 3-legged boy

Hyderabad: Notwithstanding the agitation by junior doctors, surgeons at the Niloufer Children’s Hospital in Hyderabad, on Tuesday performed a rare surgery on a 6-year-old boy who had three legs and four feet. The corrective surgery is being conducted in three phases, with a gap of six months between operations. In the first phase on Tuesday, P Niranjan’s third limb was removed and the pelvic girdle refashioned.

A team of nine orthopaedic specialists and plastic surgeons, led by Dr A Narendra Kumar, conducted the operation. Kumar had performed a similar surgery in 2002 on a baby with three hands.

Niranjan hails from a poor family in Mahbubnagar district. His left leg has two feet facing each other and a third leg was attached to his back.

Kumar explained, “The rarest point is to attempt to form two limbs — he has two pelvises and three legs. And as per investigation reports, he has bones for four legs.” In the second phase, the two feet facing each other will be corrected, followed by restoration of the knee joints.


Seven infants die
Meanwhile, hospital authorities admitted that seven infants had died in their care in 48 hours after junior doctors went on strike following their tussle with MLA Afsar Khan.

Hyderabad district collector Chandravadan and Niloufer Hospital superintendent S Narasimha Rao categorically said that the deaths could not be attributed to the agitation.

“In the last three months, we recorded an average of 10 infant deaths every day. But during the strike period, seven died in two days,” said Rao, “The reduction in the number of deaths can be attributed to the additional services put in by professors and assistant professors who would otherwise be busy with classes.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, who reviewed the situation with authorities, directed that children with serious ailments should be sent to private hospitals.

Meanwhile, AP Assembly Speaker K R Suresh Reddy has taken a serious view of the MLA’s alleged manhandling of the Niloufer doctors. “Under any circumstances, legislators are supposed to maintain balance and restraint,” Reddy said, “They cannot lose their cool, even when provoked. I will discuss this with the leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen [the party to which MLA Afsar Khan belongs] in the Assembly.”

Junior doctors at the state-run Niloufer Hospital went on a lightning strike on Sunday night, after Khan and his followers allegedly manhandled two doctors and abused lady doctors. The Nampally police registered cases under IPC Sections 353, 506, 509 and 323 against Khan, but agitating doctors insisted that he be booked under non-bailable cases and be disqualified as an MLA.
with agency inputs

Source: mumbaimirror.com