A surgeon removing 38 magnetic balls from a five-year-old boy’s intestines had to contend with the fact that they kept sticking to his instruments.

But a video of the operation shows the wily medic using the magnetic property of the balls to his advantage.

He and assistants hold a line of the small magnetic balls together as they pull of them out of their young patient’s body, using the magnetic field to drag out those still inside.

The operation was carried out at the Centre for Children's Emergency Care in the city of Almaty in south-eastern Kazakhstan.

The boy had been brought in suffering from acute stomach ache.

Doctor Yerlan Mendigaliyev said the boy was sent into surgery with strangulated intestinal obstruction.

He added: "One part of the magnets got bulked in the lower part of the intestine, and one of the magnets in the upper one."

As the magnets stuck together, they caused the patient great pain.

The skilled surgeon managed to take out all the 38 magnets and the boy’s intestine through his belly button.

There is currently no detailed information about the boy’s condition but it is known that he is still in intensive care.

The boy is presumed to have swallowed the balls accidentally while playing.

Netizen ‘Murat’ said: "Poor baby. I wonder what other things his parents feed him with."

‘Makenay’ asked: "Whyyyy? Really why? Why would parents give their children magnets?"