Surgeons yesterday successfully re-attached one of the two fingers a toddler lost in an escalator accident in Tsim Sha Tsui on Sunday, his mother said.
The mother of Ming Wai-kin was speaking after leaving the bedside of her two-year-old son in Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The boy's index and third fingers on his right hand were found almost an hour after the accident in Star House, but a top doctor said yesterday that would not stop surgeons from being able to re-attach them.
Dr Poon Tak-lun, president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association, said: 'There have been successful cases in which fingers were re-attached up to four to five hours after the injury.'
He said this kind of surgery usually took four to eight hours depending on complications, such as whether the blood vessels were easy to find and whether they were broken.
He said children usually recovered quickly from this kind of injury, but would need time and support to overcome the psychological effects.