Student Tan Li Xuan, 14, who lost some of her fingers on her right hand two weeks ago, is learning to use her left hand to eat and write.

"Every day, I tell myself I can use my left hand," she said from her bed in Tan Tock Seng Hospital on Monday.

Her right hand was crushed in a sugar cane juicer while she was helping her father at his Toa Payoh stall. She lost her right middle and index fingers and half of her thumb. Her right hand is still heavily bandaged after a 10-hour operation to attach one of her right toes to her half-severed thumb.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited the Guangyang Secondary student at the hospital. Li Xuan and her family lives in Ang Mo Kio GRC, PM Lee's ward.

"I was very nervous and awkward," she said.

"He's quite friendly. He encouraged me. He talked about the one armed soldier who went in a cave with his mates and came out safely."

Mr Lee had told her the story of US civil war veteran John Wesley Powell who despite having lost his arm in the war, went on to become the first person to navigate through the Grand Canyon.