MTRH Successfully Re-Implants Amputated Hand

The Moi Technical Referral Hospital (MTRH) successfully conducted a rare surgery of re-implanting a traumatically amputated hand.

The hospital said the patient identified as BK, 35, had his left arm amputated at the wrist following an alleged domestic assault on Tuesday.

He was then referred from Sigowet Sub-county Hospital, Kericho, and arrived at MTRH Emergency Department at 4 am and the detached limb was stored in a cool box.

Within 15 minutes he was taken to the theatre where two teams of 13-members alternatingly worked on re-attaching the limb and the process was successfully completed at 3pm.

“Patient reversed successfully, admitted to Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU) overnight then Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for monitoring and IV Heparin infusion. Completed the IV infusion 48 hours later on Thursday 10/08/2023, limb splinted and rehabilitation initiated,” read part of the statement.

On Sunday, BK was then moved from ICU to the General Orthopedics Ward where he will continue with daily reviews and rehabilitation.

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Kenya has only three hand specialist surgeons, one in Nairobi, another one in Nakuru and Dr. Paul Mwangi from MRTH.

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha said Dr. Paul Mwangi was supported by MTRH to undertake Hand Surgery training at University of The Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015/16.

“This successful and highly specialized surgery is part of the fruits of MTRH Board and Management (fully supported by Government of Kenya through Ministry of Health and The National Treasury & Economic Planning) long-range goal of developing multi-and sub-specialty surgical and medical skills, continual staff capacity development, huge investments in medical infrastructure and specialized equipment with a high work performance culture.”

She said the MTRH team worked in two teams, alternately repairing/re-attaching the limb and revascularization.

The surgery, a medical marathon, took over 11 hours to complete.