Doctors were unable to attach it right away because both Zhou’s arm and severed hand were badly wounded following the @cc*ident. So they opted instead to allow the nerves and tendons to heal with time. This meant Dr Tang and his team decided to graft Zhou’s left hand to his right ankle.
Dr Tang said, ‘ Under normal temperatures, a severed finger needs to resume blo*od supply within 10 hours, but that time is even shorter for a separated limb. If a limb is short of bl*ood for too long, its tissues d!e and it will be unsalvageable.’

While attached to his ankle for more than one month, Mr Zhou’s hand was kept ‘alive’ and left to heal. Now Dr Tang and his team have successfully reattached it to his arm in a 10-hour surgery. Zhou is now able to move his fingers slightly according to Dr Tang but he will still need much rehabilitation before regaining full use of his hand.