Convict gets back seven fingers and some hope

On March 20 this year 42-year-old Alagu Sakthivel, a life convict in the Coimbatore Central Prison, lost eight fingers in an industrial accident in the prison. Timely action of prison authorities and seventeen hours of surgery put in by a team of dedicated doctors have now helped him get back seven of those fingers.

Sakthivel said that he is now able to wear his shirt and attend to his day to day activities though he is still unable to make full use of his re-attached fingers. On the day the incident took place the convict was working in the paper board making unit at the prison, where a blade meant for cutting paper boards chopped off his eight fingers and damaged a portion of the two other fingers.

The incident took place around 10.40 a.m. Prison staff packed his fingers, packed them in ice packs and rushed him to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.

He was referred to Ganga Hospital where two teams of doctors in Ganga Hospital worked simultaneously on his damaged fingers around 12.40 p.m.

The teams were busy for the next four hours, isolating the bones, tendons, arteries and veins. Chairman, Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery and Burns Department, at Ganga Hospital, S. Raja Sabapathy told The Hindu that the task of fixing the fingers began after they were cleaned.

“It took close to two-and-a-half hours for fixing each finger,” he said.

Discharged 25 days later, Sakthivel was taken to the hospital from time to time for physiotherapy and post-operative procedures.

Dr. Raja Sabapathy said, the convict would require about six more months’ intensive physiotherapy to regain 75 per cent mobility of the amputated fingers.

Sakthivel went in for a second surgery on Thursday which they hope will increase the mobility of his fingers.