Miracle operation at Karapitiya Hospital

Detached leg of scholarship schoolgirl stuck inside bike wheel .....
successfully joined

     A team of surgeons of Karapitiya Hospital were able to miraculously join successfully to the ankle which was dangling from the detached leg of an 8 year old schoolgirl who faced an unfortunate accident on a motor bicycle.

    The student Deduni studying at Sanghamitta Balika Vidyalaya in Galle and was in grade 3 had been returning after attending a scholarship class and was in the company of her mother and grandfather when she happened to doze off after which she leaned to a side at which moment her right leg had gone inside the rear wheel of the motor bike which her grandfather had been riding;thus ending in an unfortunate accident.

    Her grandfather had then promptly halted the bike when he noticed that the niece's ankle had got detached from the leg and was hanging from the skin. Her mother who collected the bones and pieces of flesh of the leg of the girl had put them into a polythene bag and had taken the daughter to Karapitiya Hospital. Specialist surgeon on kidney and neurology, Dr. Ranjuka Ubeysiri and a team of doctors began a surgery which is reported to be successful.

   The surgeon thus spoke about the operation: "When this child was brought to hospital, the bones, the nerves, veins, arteries were all completely detached from the leg. The leg gave a bluish appearance and the flow of blood had ceased. At that moment we were doubtful whether we would be able to save the girl's leg. Whatever it is, we be began on the surgery.

   What we did was shorten the leg a little and fix an iron frame from outside the bones and join the nerves and arteries. There was a flow of blood after this surgery. The nerve transplant turned out to be successful. But we were on the alert and also prepared to provide necessary treatment in case an infection creeps in or some problematic situation arises. Since the supply of blood is alright, a problem may not occur. However, a bone or plastic surgery may have to be performed. This surgery itself took about three and a half hours.

    Specialist surgeon Dr Ranjuka Ubeysiri said that Drs. Thea Jayasekera, Ishan Perera and Suranga participated in this operation.

    The girl's mother who was with her at the moment of the accident had this to say: "At the time this accident happened, my husband's father was riding the bike. It happened when we were returning home from a scholarship class. When travelling for sometime like this, my daughter's leg suddenly happened to go inside the rear wheel of the bike. After that, the leg was separated from the ankle and was dangling from the skin.

   We collected the parts of bones and took the child to hospital. For my child's luck, Dr. Ranjuka Ubeysiri performed an operation on my daughter. The doctor told us not to get alarmed.I was scared that the leg would have to be amputated ... but Dr. Ranjuka saved my daughter's leg like a Jeevaka".

Report and photos -- R.L. Deeyagahage