Patiala: Rare surgery performed on 10-year-old

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 19

Padma Shri Dr RL Mittal, a renowned club-foot surgeon, performed an unprecedented corrective surgery of world’s first S-shaped foot deformity on a 10-year-old kid. Dr Mittal informed that the patient was referred to him and he accepted the challenge of correcting his deformity free of cost. He said that special X-rays were taken to delineate the position of various bones in the foot, for realigning them in normal position during a surgery at a private hospital.

Dr Mittal is Emeritus Professor Orthopaedic Department Government Medical College Patiala.

Dr Mittal said, “It was a painstaking two hours long unprecedented surgery, correcting the deformity to its normalised position with a number of stiff wires to fix the loosened bones. The foot has been put in plaster cast after the surgery.”

He was confident that the child would walk normally after the surgery. He said that plaster cast would remain in the foot for 10 weeks to let the bony and soft tissue heal and consolidate. “Feet are an essential part of the human body, therefore, it is necessary to correct the foot deformities,” said the 84-year-old surgeon.