bomb blast afghan soldier gets double hand transplant

[DaZahroJaam.]

It is with admiration and awe that Abdul Rahim, the 30-year-old Afghani, keeps looking at his 'dual-coloured' hands. Rahim, a captain with the Afghan border police who lost both his hands while trying to defuse a land mine in Khandahar, will soon leave Amrita Hospital after a successful twin-hand transplant.

The surgery carried out over a month ago lasted 15 hours, one hour less than the first such transplant at the hospital. "His hand structure was good and the progress has been fast, driven largely by his willpower. Two bones, two arteries, five veins, five nerves and 25 tendons were joined in each hand," said Dr Subramania Iyer, head and neck surgeon who led the team of 20 surgeons and eight anaesthetics.

Rahim had defused nearly 2,000 land mines in his life. "We had defused 30 mines on the day. The 31st one burst in my hand. It was remote-controlled and the man who activated it got Rs 40 lakh for maiming me," he said.

The search for a donor began three years ago. "President Karzai had promised all help.

I went to Iran, but could not get a donor. After looking at the options of Germany, America and India, I reached New Delhi, where I was told about doctors at Amrita hospital," he said.

The doctors here were not sure of finding a donor. "The rules demand that priority should be given to local patients. When the family of 54-year-old T G Joseph, a braindead person, agreed to donate his hands, we called the patient on the waitlist. They were not ready and thus Rahim got it," Dr Iyer said.

Rahim will have to stay in India for a year to undergo a 10-month physiotherapy and follow-up treatment. . "We are working on the logistics, including training a doctor from there. We are looking at how we can help that country, which has many such cases," Dr Iyer said.

Rahim is accompanied by wife Majibin, sister Gul Aram and elder son Muhabbat.

Meanwhile, doctors said 30-year-old Manu, who underwent the first hand transplant in January, was progressing well. Besides all routine activities, he even plays the xylophone as part of his physiotherapy.

[tor_khan]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I admire the noble aspects of giving a chance to those whose lives you can improve through donation.

People suffer real trauma when they lose a part of themselves so the idea of organ/body part donation should be the same as a blood transfusion, but some of the newer advances in body part donation verge on the edge of Frankenstein's Monster type assembly of body parts.

Best to him I guess.

[DaZahroJaam.]

it must be awfully strange to look down at hands that have not been a part of you a lifetime and still feel sensation though them as you touch and feel things.. you will be reminded of them being a stranger's hands every time you look down at them but for someone who has lost not one but both hands, anything to enable him to gain back some of his independence must be worth alot..

in order to get rid of that mini shock he will feel every time he looks down at the hands of some stranger attached to his arms, he will need long sleeved gloves.

[Kushan Prince]

Only idiots deserve to get their hands blown off who try to defuse a land mine instead of clearing the area.

[DaZahroJaam.]

it is important for me to be here and surround myself to this level of ignorance so in course of time, i do not forget the sufferings of those who do not have the means or freedom to escape the consequences of stemming from a society that dwells in ignorance.























whether by the end, we remain or not, this battle is worth fighting a thousand times and over. should the sword of enemy find our necks, our blood will splash upon the walls of time and speak for us through the silent pages of history!

how would i get through life if it wasn't for the entertainment i get from idiots like you..