Tricky op by city doctors saves snake-bitten Nanded boy's hand

MUMBAI: Eight-year-old Nanded boy Talha Umar Shaikh's family had heaved a sigh of relief when he overcame a snake bite on his left hand with anti-venom shots, but the joy proved short-lived. The area around the bite developed into a painful infection, prompting local doctors to suggest amputation.
But Talha proved lucky again: doctors from a city public hospital performed a novel plastic surgery a fortnight ago to repair his deformed left hand.
The anxious family brought him to Mumbai three months ago. "We went to a government hospital here that treated the cellulitis (a painful bacterial infection), but my son could barely use his left arm," said Talha's father Mahetab Shaikh, who earns a living as a labourer.
The family was advised to go to Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Parel, a joint enterprise of the state government, BMC and the industrialist Wadia family. "At Wadia Hospital, we were told we wouldn't have to spend any money and the hand would be fixed," said Shaikh.
On October 25, plastic, hand & reconstructive microsurgeon Dr Nilesh Satbhai performed a microvascular, free tissue transfer on Talha's left hand. It involves taking a skin flap from an unaffected area and fixing it on the scarred site by sewing small blood vessels together under a microscope.
While doctors haven't yet given a discharge date for Talha, his father is relieved. "The hospital has promised to take care of Talha till his arm is healed completely."