A team of surgeons performed a 10-hour hand transplant on a man on Thursday,February 3rd at the Yeungnam University Medical Center in the southeastern city of Daegu, marking the first time that a transplant replacing a hand has taken place in the country.

A midsize hospital in Daegu has successfully performed Korea’s first hand transplantation recently.

The doctor in charge,Woo Sang-Hyun worked hard to create social conditions to perform the hand transplantation.

Dr. Woo Sang-hyun, CEO and president of W Hospital, who has been a medical professional in with this area for 18 years.

 Hand transplants are considered to be very complex.One of the reasons a transplant is difficult is because doctors must locate arteries,veins,nerve and tendons.Then they must be connected properly to ensure proper movement of the hand and fingers.

For a transplant to be considered a healthy donor is required. If the donor is not healthy, the patient's body may reject the transplanted hand.

“Once a donor came forth, we had countless meetings about the surgical process and performed several sham operations,” Woo said in a recent interview with The Korea Biomedical Review.

“I hope more young doctors will show interest in areas like arm and other composite organ transplantations. It’s a field worth the challenge. To make it possible, the government should amend the reform health insurance system, creating the infrastructure for invigorating these surgeries.

There is no doubt W Hospital is the best microsurgical institution in Korea.