LUDHIANA, Nov 22 — People suffering from joint pains, particularly in the knees, no longer need to live with it. Joint replacement surgery is increasingly being performed in large hospitals in India.
While knee replacement is not a new procedure in India or in the north, it has yet to become popular, despite a huge number of people suffering from perennial joint pains, particularly in the knees. In PGI Chandigarh, knee replacement surgeries have been performed since the early eighties.
Two leading US based orthopaedicians, Dr Ananthakrishnan and Dr Feroze Yusufji, are currently visiting the Christian Medical College and training doctors there for the job. The two doctors, who have studied at the CMC said, in India there was great scope for joint replacement surgery as degenerative diseases of the joints, especially knees and hips requiring surgery, including replacement of these joints were increasing in India.
However, they regretted that thousands of people in India require joint replacement surgeries but were living in pain either due to lack of funds or due to ignorance. Doctors revealed that in the US, 1.5 million joint replacement surgeries were performed every year. According to US statististical standards in Ludhiana, a city with a population of about 3 million, 3000 joint surgeries are required to be performed every year, whereas actually, only about 100 patients go for knee joint replacement surgeries.
Dr Ananthakrishnan, who has himself got both his knees replaced, performs about 200 knee replacements every year, with the complication rate less than one per cent. A graduate of the CMC and a student of Dr L.H. Lobo, he is now the Clinical Associate Professor in Texas and has been visiting CMC regularly for the past 10 years. Earlier, he used to come here for three or four days, but now he stays here for at least two years. Besides performing surgeries, he has also been training doctors.
Dr Feroze Yusufji, another graduate of CMC, is presently working as chairman of Department of Orthopaedics in Atlanta. He has introduced the procedure of arthroscopic reconstructive surgery. He also visits CMC regularly .
Dr Yusufji revealed that he was introducing orthoscopic surgery to the hospital. He said, by this method the joint replacement could be delayed by at least 10 years. “The degeneration process is slowed down with certain corrective measures and also with due cooperation of the patients”, he added.
Dr M.K. Mam, Professor and Head of the Department of Orthopaedics in the CMC, claimed that the knee and hip replacement surgeries being performed in the CMC were yielding good results.
While in the United States, the surgery costs around $ 40,000, in India it costs about Rs one lakh only. The doctors said, awareness needed to be created among patients and there was no need to make the pain a life-long companion.
Doctors also suggested that obesity and stress on the joints were common causes for knee and hip joint problems.
The Acting Director of CMC, Dr T.M. Jaison, announced that the CMC was setting up a full-fledged trauma centre, which would cater to the needs of the region.
