Gleneagles Health City successfully performs two ‘Hand Transplants’ in a week

• First Hospital in the state to perform 3 Hand Transplants: Nagesh Rao, CEO, Gleneagles Health City Chennai.
• Tamil Nadu government can include ‘Hand Transplants’ under the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (TNCMCHIS), as the procedure costs anywhere around Rs. 20 Lakh to Rs. 25 Lakh: Dr. Selva Seetha Raman, HoD & Senior Consultant, Gleneagles Health City, Chennai.

Addressing media along with three patients who underwent hand transplant Dr K Nagesh Rao, CEO, Gleneagles Health City, Chennai said, “We are grateful to Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) for their unwavering support in successfully performing two hand transplants at our hospital in two consecutive weeks. We appreciate their dedication to educating the public and promoting the importance of organ donation. This awareness has been instrumental in saving countless lives’’.

He further said, “The history that Gleneagles Health City has created in this domain of hand transplants is the back-to-back hand transplants performed within a week and we take pride in stating our team of doctors have made this possible and this is no small feat,” he added.

Dr. Selva Seetha Raman, HoD & Senior Consultant, who led the team spoke on the success of the bilateral hand transplant said, “For the bilateral hand transplant, it was a huge challenge for us. As Karthick’s hands were amputated, it took nearly 20 hours to reconstruct his hands. Thankfully, the donor’s hands were flown in from Trichy, and we received them in time for surgery. We had a team of 18 doctors, including Plastic Surgeons, Orthopedicians, Anesthetists, Nephrologists, and Intensivists, who took up this challenge.”

“In the case of Buvan, it was a unilateral hand, and the challenge we faced was that we got the hand of a female donor from Erode.  Although the number of hours spent on surgery was comparably lesser than for Karthick, the team of doctors, consisting of 16 specialists, including Plastic Surgeons, Orthopedicians, Anesthetists, Nephrologists, and Intensivists, successfully completed the procedure,” Dr. Selva Seetha Raman adds.
“Overall, both surgeries have been a success, with Karthick being discharged last week and Buvan scheduled to be discharged next week,” Dr Selva Seetha Raman said.

Thanking the TRANSTAN authorities for regulating organ donation, Dr Selva Seetha Raman urged the state government to include ‘Hand Transplants’ under the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (TNCMCHIS), as the procedure costs anywhere around Rs. 20 Lakh to Rs. 25 Lakh. He said though the government yet to include Hand Transplants, it has started financially supporting the patients to meet the expenses i.e. for immune-suppressant medicine every month.

Reply to query on compatibility of hand donor and the receiver, Dr Selva Seetha Raman said that it depends on the health of the donor. A 65-year old brain dead male patient, who was in construction field was harvested from Ahmedabad in Gujarat and was transplanted successfully for a patient at Gleneagles Hospital, he added.

History of Hand Transplants performed at Gleneagles Health City, Chennai

Gleneagles Health City could achieve the feat of hand transplants by surgically attaching a brain-dead donor’s hands to Mr. R. Karthick, a real estate consultant from Chennai. Karthick, now aged 31, lost both his hands a year ago while attending a funeral, the firework celebrations caused irreparable damage to his hands. After struggling for nearly a year without hands, Karthick received a new pair a few days ago from a donor who had met with an untimely road traffic accident.

Another patient, Mr. M. Buvan from Thanjavur, around 22 years old and the son of an auto driver, lost his dominant right hand while operating a machine. He is now the recipient of a hand from a female donor who was declared brain-dead due to a brain hemorrhage. Bilateral Hand Transplant for R Karthick was Performed on April 21^st 2024 and Unilateral Hand Transplant for Mr Bhuvan was performed on 2^nd May 2024.