CMCH docs perform difficult bladder reconstructive surgery

She also had tuberculosis of the blood vessels supplying certain areas of her brain which caused weakness in her upper and lower limbs. At CMCH,she was diagnosed as having genito-urinary tuberculosis. Her left kidney was diseased due to tuberculosis and was non-functional. She had a diseased bladder due to tuberculosis and it could not store urine due to its small capacity as a result of tuberculosis.

Dr Kim Mammen,professor and head of Department of Urology,with team members,Dr Francis Sridhar Katumalla and Dr George Mathew performed a reconstructive surgery of her urinary bladder along with removal of the diseased left kidney. A segment of intestine was used to increase the capacity of the urinary bladder from 50 ml to 500 ml.

She had vigorous and extensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises done under the supervision of Dr K V Dhiraj,professor of Physiotherapy and Dr Santhosh Mathangi,consultant in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Pema Charba along with her husband stayed in the hospital for almost two months. “Her treatment was subsidised by CMCH and donations from philanthropists and well-wishers from Ludhiana also poured in,” said Dr Kim.