Four-and-a-half-year-old Nirvaan Banik, a part of whose right little finger was ripped off during a collision between a pick-up van and the autorickshaw he was travelling in last week, lost the finger on Tuesday. A re-implant surgery that was performed on Thursday failed to rejoin the finger.
Nirvaan’s father Mithun Banik said his son underwent surgery on Tuesday at Belle Vue Clinic to get the re-implanted portion removed. “He was under observation. Today, doctors saw that the part of the little finger that had been re-implanted had turned black. It had to be removed,” Banik said.
The Nursery-II student had been under observation at Belle Vue since Thursday’s operation as doctors had to ascertain whether the affected finger would function normally again. Officials at the hospital said on Tuesday that the doctors found that the nerves of the portion that had been ripped off could not be reconnected with the ones in the remaining part of the finger. “If the family wants, a prosthetic finger can be attached after the child grows up,” an official at Belle Vue said.
Nirvaan has been told about the lost finger. “He was in tremendous pain. He was apprehensive about whether he would be able to hold a paintbrush or table tennis bat again,” Banik said. “He is saying he will never paint a lorry.” His younger brother, who will turn three this December, has been having sleepless nights. “My younger son is deeply concerned about his elder brother’s health. He keeps saying: ‘Lorry eshe marlo, dada’r angul kete gelo. Onek rokto (A lorry came and hit my elder brother. He lost his finger. There was a lot of blood)’,” Banik said.
Nirvaan, his brother and mother were returning home from school in an autorickshaw when the accident happened on the EM Bypass Rashbehari connector in south Kolkata’s Kasba last Thursday afternoon. The helper of a Tata Ace that was standing at a signal had opened the left door and the auto, which was trailing right behind, slammed into the door. Caught in the collision, the little finger on Nirvaan’s right hand was ripped off from the middle.
Officers in Kasba police station have started a case under Section 338 of the IPC, which deals with causing grievous hurt through rash or negligent act, against the driver and the helper of the Tata Ace. If convicted, they can be jailed for two years. The driver and the help were arrested on Friday. They are out on bail.