New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) A team of doctors here have removed an iron rod from the leg of a 30-year-old auto driver in a 'rare surgery' as the rod had pierced near his ankle and got embedded in the rickshaw.

Doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Thursday removed the iron rod from the leg of Amrik, who was badly injured the same day after his auto rickshaw collided with a truck laden with iron rods in south Delhi.

'The auto driver met with an accident in which a 12 mm (in diameter) iron rod pierced near his ankle and then lodged itself in the rickshaw. The rod had to be cut at two places on either side of the leg in order to bring the patient to the hospital,' M.C. Mishra from AIIMS' department of emergency medicine told reporters.

'We had to plan the course of treatment and the surgery very carefully as the slightest error could have resulted in amputation of the patients foot,' he added.

Sanjoi Bhoi, the doctor in-charge of the treatment, said the surgery was one-of-its-kind.

'The surgery was planned and performed in order to ensure minimum damage and maximum efficiency,' Bhoi said.