Jackline Mwende, the 27-year-old woman whose hands were chopped off by her husband will get electronic prosthetics worth Sh10 million.
Chief orthopaedic surgeon at the PCEA Kikuyu Hospital Michael Maru assessed Mwende’s wounds for almost an hour yesterday. He said she lost a lot of blood.Mwende also sustained facial injuries.
“Given her age and what she has, I would recommend that she gets a myoelectric prosthetic that will function like normal limbs.
This was a traumatic amputation because the right hand was cut once and fell. The left hand was held by skin,” Maru said.
Surgeons will need to round the stumps so they accommodate the prosthetics. Orthopaedic technologist Dennis Mwaniki said the electronic prosthetics cost Sh5 million per piece and will be imported.
A prosthetic is a device, external or implanted, that substitutes or supplements a missing or defective body part. The hospital has two types of prosthetic limbs – cosmetic and functional.
Mwaniki said a cosmetic limb costs Sh90,000 a pair, while a functional prosthetic costs Sh400,000 a pair.
“After her surgery, we will train her how to use them. It will take her approximately three months to get used to them,” he said. The myoelectric prosthetics use a battery and electronic motors. They are custom-made to fit and attach to the stumps with maximum suspension using suction technology.
LG electronics will meet Mwende’s medical and transport costs. Machakos county on Monday promised Mwende a monthly stipend of Sh30,000 for a year and a househelp. Mwende’s husband Stephen Ngila chopped her hands and hacked her head with a panga for failing to give him a child during their seven-year marriage. Doctors said Ngila has the reproductive problem.