Minister inaugurates several sub-specialty clinics at Stanley Hospital

State Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar inaugurated on Wednesday several medical sub-specialty clinics of the plastic surgery department at Government Stanley Hospital. They include a breast correction and aesthetic surgery clinic, a clinic for cleft lip correction, for wound care, hand injuries and hand transplants. These clinics will offer outpatient services from Monday to Friday. “The breast surgery clinic will offer services including breast augmentation, breast reduction as well as reconstruction in cases where a woman's breasts have been removed due to cancer. This apart, we will also offer correction of other defects, such as in the vagina,” said V. Ramadevi, head of the plastic surgery department at the Government Stanley Hospital. All the services will be provided free. “There is a need for breast surgery services, but many find in unaffordable, and so we have decided to offer them," she added.

At an event to honour the donor’s family and felicitate the team that performed the State’s first hand transplant on a 29-year-old man, Mr. Vijaya Baskar said that while the donation of organs such as kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs was now growing in the State, no one usually came forward to donate hands. “But this family did, and we thank them. They are a role model family,” he said.

The recipient was a mason from Dindigul district, who lost both hands in 2015 due to electrocution. His younger sister, speaking on the phone, said that he was the breadwinner of the family. “It was very difficult for the family after his accident. My father had to go in for daily wage work in a quarry to support the family. My mother is not well, and unable to work,” she said. About a year ago, my brother began coming for treatment to Stanley, she said. And then, earlier this month, the family received a call to come to the hospital immediately. “My brother flew to Chennai. There were a series of tests done and then the doctors performed the surgery,” she said.

The 13-hour surgery was completed, the recipient is now undergoing exercises and physiotherapy to bring movement into the hands. “He will remain in the hospital for about two more months,” said Dr. Ramadevi.

For the family of the donor, M. Venkatesan, it was a happy moment to be able to see the recipient on a video clipping played at the event. “We really wanted the surgery to be successful,” said Nandini Devi, his sister. Her mother and two other sisters also participated in the event.