THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Kamal Rampersaud of Sheet Anchor Village, Corentyne, suffered a compound fracture to his right leg after a swimming plunge into the Canje River.

The boy who is now an inpatient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) was executing a plunge into the water when the waves pushed a small boat into his path and he hit his right leg on the edge of the vessel.
He sustained a compound fracture and was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he was hospitalised for two days. The leg was not placed in a cast but was bandaged and he was advised to avoid moving the limb.
However, within a few days the wound became infected and odorous. He said when he touched it, he could feel the rugged edge of the bone. His parents took him back to New Amsterdam Hospital, and on recognising the extent to which the injury had worsened, the hospital evacuated him to the GPHC by ambulance.
At the GPHC, he received emergency medical procedure and the leg was subsequently placed in a cast. Kamal said he is now well on the road to recovery.
Meanwhile, his relatives are happy for this intervention, noting that the leg had appeared to be turning gangrenous before he was taken to the GPHC.

(By Shirley Thomas)