BENGALURU: An eight-year-old Chinmay Raj accidentally fell into burning charcoal in a temple near Itnur in Jalahalli two years ago. He was unable to move his fingers as the fingers were completely fused. A corrective surgery in February this year enabled the boy to attend school again.
The boy sustained burns to both hands when he accidentally fell over hot embers and stones in the temple. His father, 40-year-old Ramesh Raj, is a painter.
“My wife Latha and Chinmay had gone to the temple. He fell over the charcoal and was taken to SK Hospital in Jalahalli. He underwent treatment there for a week. But my son would remove the dressing at night after the wounds healed. His fingers got stuck. My wife and her mother had to feed him, bathe him and take him to the bathroom for two years after that,” he said.
Chinmay underwent his first surgery in September last year. “He lost a year at school but is now in Class II. He does everything on his own, even plays ball. We have to go back to the hospital for follow up,” he says.
When skin is burnt, the surrounding skin begins to pull together resulting in the tightening, which is medically termed as a contracture. He was brought to People Tree Hospital, where he was examined and operated upon by plastic surgeon Dr Kiran J.
Chinmay presented with a condition medically termed as Syndactyly. He was only able to move his fingers a little especially his thumbs. The People Tree Foundation, the charity arm of the hospital, funded the surgery and is funding consequent treatment too.