Tegucigalpa, Honduras…[Libna Stevens/IAD}
A Seventh-day Adventist surgeon reattached the hand of a man who had been assaulted in a robbery attempt in the capital city of Tegucigalpa on February 28.
Angel Geovanny Huete, 42, an employee of the Finance Ministry of the government of Honduras, was traveling with his wife to San Lorenzo, located two hours from Tegucigalpa, when he was assaulted by a man who severed Huete’s left hand with a machete. When the attack was over, Huete’s wife picked up the severed hand and rushed it and her husband to the local hospital there. The orthopedic doctor there iced the hand and arranged immediate transportation for them to Instituto Hondureno de Seguridad Social Hospital in Tegucigalpa.
Delayed by traffic, Huete and his wife finally arrived at the hospital five hours after the attack. The hospital staff immediately alerted Haitian-born plastic surgeon Dr. Emec Cherenfant, who was off for the weekend. To perform the delicate reattachment procedure, Dr. Cherenfant needed a special surgical microscope which had just been donated by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Honduras. The equipment had just arrived three days earlier, but was still in its packaging and locked away in the institute’s maintenance department. Since it was a Saturday, it was impossible to find the engineer in time to unlock the door, so, with the approval of the hospital director, the door was knocked down from its hinges.
“I was familiar with the [microscope] model before, so we put it together and began the surgery at 10:00 p.m. and were finished at 8:00 a.m. the next day,” explains Cherenfant. “Everything went well with the surgery. The patient can flex his fingers and will be able to use his hand after months of therapy.”
The surgery was covered by the local media and sparked interest in the international media as well.
This is Dr. Cherenfant’s third hand reattachment during his 10 years practicing plastic surgery. He has been a physician for 16 years.
Dr. Cherenfant, 41, completed his medical studies in Honduras and obtained his specialty in plastic surgery in Montpellier and Paris, France. He is fascinated with being a physician and working in his field is the “most splendid expression of the power of God.”
CherenfantHe is a 4th generation Seventh-day Adventist and is a member of the Central Church in Tegucigalpa. He has been a member of Adventist Laypersons’s Services and Industries for five years. He is married and has two children.
