JoyNews spoke exclusively with Dr. Kwame Darko, acting Medical Director at the Korle Bu Training Hospital’s Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre, where surgeons successfully reattached the chopped hand of a factory worker who severed it while operating a sawmill.

“We don’t see cases of this extremity often, but we have doctors who’ve received specialized training from all over the world. So when we see something like this we know what to do and we’re ready for it,” he said in a recorded interview aired on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM Friday.

The patient, Victor Atikpo, was rushed to LEKMA Hospital in Teshie after someone accidentally turned on a sawmill where his right hand was placed. His entire hand was sliced off just below the wrist.

At LEKMA, a team of medical doctors packaged the hand before transporting him to Korle Bu, where they were equipped with the staff to conduct the surgery.

Within four hours of the accident, Darko’s team performed the landmark operation, which included reconstructing his bones, tendons, nerves and blood vessels.

Eight hours later, they were done.

“Getting him here on time and preserving the hand is what saved him,” Darko said. “I commend LEKMA for quickly preserving the hand and rushing him here quickly,” he told host of the Show, Daniel Dadzie.

Atikpo was discharged last week and is expected to make a full recovery. He will have to undergo an extensive physiotherapy regimen to regain use of his hand, but Darko predicts the patient will carry out normal daily functions within three to four months. 

“If he extends his physiotherapy longer than the recommended timeframe, he can get back to work in 8-9 months,” he said.