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Pune-based noted hand surgeon vividly remembers the first patient he had operated upon way back in 1991. The boy was just 14 and a constricted plaster cast to heal a minor hand injury led to a series of complications including 14 operations. “The boy’s nerve got cut, paralysing muscles, and even the bone got infected. The rod that was fitted in the forearm led to further complications. I remember for the hand reconstructive surgery, we tabulated the problems in the bones, joints, nerves , skin and tendons. For the bone, a device was custom-made in our own workshop. The skin was imported from the abdominal wall and the tendon came from the inner leg. The nerve was harvested from the outer aspect of the leg,” Dr. Jindal recalled. Over the following months, the joints were kept supple through intense tailor-made therapy and the brain signals were activated through dynamic devices. “The sincerity and perseverance of the patient and his parents paid off and the boy could use his hand again,” Dr. Jindal said adding that now at 47, he is among the top management consultants at a private firm and avidly participates in rock climbing expeditions. Be it dealing with with patients with severe burns or reattaching amputated parts, over the last three decades or so, Dr. Jindal has completed a landmark 30,000 complex surgeries. “There have been several patients with acute hand trauma, birth defects of the hand, suffer from arthritic hands while there are others who have to deal with compression neuropathy in their hands and feet,” Dr. Jindal recalls. Having performed over 50 reimplantations of completely severed /amputated hands, Dr. Jindal, a consulting hand surgeon at Ratna Memorial hospital, is actively engaged in conducting charity surgical camps to correct hand deformities. “More than 900 patients have been surgically treated in these camps and children suffering from spasticity due to cerebral palsy and congenital deformity are given priority. Often this group of patients are laborers or from the economically weak section. They lack the money necessary for treatment and medicines,” Dr. Jindal said. He added that with the support of social organisations such as Rotary International, Lions’ Club, Agrawal Club and Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal Foundation, camps are conducted to surgically treat the patients. “If the hand has a deformity or suffers a serious injury in an accident, then the affected person has to face a number of problems. It was because of this that I chose to develop expertise in hand surgery after obtaining a degree in orthopedics and later taking up further studies in France and Switzerland,” Dr. Jindal, who also formerly chaired the hand surgery section at the Indian orthopedic Association and delivered more than 200 lectures across India and abroad, said. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/noted-hand-surgeon-30k-complex-surgeries-9380223/