KOCHI: At the tender age of five, Pathanamthitta native Abhaya Kumar lost his face in a road accident five years ago and was rushed to the Specialists Hospital here and underwent the first face reconstruction surgery in the country. On Saturday he revisited the hospital to thank the doctors and officials for scripting a new chapter in his life. The accident occurred after Abhay boarded an autorickshaw with his mother and relatives. He was immediately taken to the Pushpagiri Medical College, Tiruvalla from where he was referred to Specialists.
In the attempt to rush him to hospital, none bothered to pick the fragments of his face lost in the accident and it was for a handful of policemen to rush it to Specialists which enabled the face reconstruction surgery which lasted six hours. The surgery was conducted by a team led by plastic surgeon Dr R Jayakumar. It took another three surgeries to bring back a semblance of order on his face.
“It is rare across the world itself. There are a lot of limitations to make the face parts functional after surgery. It demands restoring blood circulation fast by joining veins, among other things,” said Dr Jayakumar. Abhayakumar’s parents were an elated lot revisiting the hospital and the doctors after a long time. The child also is coming to grips with the reality and is happy that he is back to life without many complications.
