Regarding an article titled “Wilwara left with horrific burns after Nawaloka surgery” published in the Daily Mirror on August 13, 2019, Dr. Narendra Pinto, Senior Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon, states the following:

1, The patient presented with a very severe complex injury to his right knee following a rugby injury.

2, Following the necessary investigations and imaging, this patient underwent corrective surgery after being informed about the complicated nature of the injury and prolonged recovery time.

3, After a prolonged and protracted specialized surgical procedure, the damaged ligaments were repaired and restored successfully.

4, It is not possible to name all the ligaments involved or give more details of the injury and the very complex operation without the patient’s permission.

5, On the following day a skin lesion in the form of blistering, involving the epidermis (outer layer of the skin) was noted at the site of the tourniquet high up in the thigh.

This type of tourniquet pressure complications are rare, but could occur in spite of necessary precautions taken (such as padding underneath the pressure cuff) during extended surgery. Tourniquets are used to block bleeding during surgery on limbs. There was no diathermy burn/injury as mentioned.

6, The skin lesion was well away from the sterile operative site.

7, The patient was reassured that the lesion will settle within a few weeks and no specialised care was required, and only periodic dressings would be necessary.

8, When the patient was reviewed after surgery within a week, the affected area was in the healing phase. In fact the pictures shown on the article clearly shows obvious signs of healing of the lesion, and the paler pinkish area will get pigmented to normality soon.

9, The complication the patient got, will not in any way lengthen the recovery time of his original injury sustained at Rugby (9-12 months time return to play, which the patient is fully aware of).

Writer’s Note

In response to the facts stated by Dr. Narendra Pinto over the article titled “Wilwara left with horrific burns after Nawaloka surgery” published on Daily Mirror on August 13, 2019, the writer of the article would like to point out that it was the patient who felt this was a diathermy burn after consulting Dr. Ananda Dharmapala, Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer in Surgery at the Teaching Hospital in Peradeniya and the Daily Mirror only reported that along with a photograph of the medical report. It is also crystal clear that Daily Mirror at no point had doubts over the ACL surgery because the patient himself believed ‘it went very well,’ which is why the Daily Mirror finds it difficult to understand why Dr. Narendra Pinto is writing this. Dr. Narendra Pinto also claims ‘lesion will settle within a few weeks and no specialized care was required,’ but Daily Mirror can confirm Anurudda Wilwara is still receiving treatments for the burn and that he had to use his personal money a few times for specialized care. Dr. Narendra Pinto has also accused Daily Mirror of irresponsibly sensationalizing the burn, and Daily Mirror would like to leave it to its readers to decide whether that is actually the case, given the photographs carried along the article are actual pictures of Anurudda Wilwara’s lesion.