Perform 17 low-cost total knee transplant operations in 3 months

Obesity and lifestyle trigger knee deformities and orthopaedicians across the country are concerned over its growing incidence among short-structured and fat Indians. However, there is no cause for immediate worry.
The marvels of orthopaedic surgery are such that, today, patients can get total knee transplants done in a matter of two hours and start walking after two weeks.
Sixty-year-old Soundarnayi, of Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu, is one such patient who underwent a total knee transplant operation on both legs three months ago at SRM Hospital and Research Centre. She had severe restriction of movement and varus deformity of about 15 degrees. She had been suffering with severe pain in both her knees and had difficulty in walking for the last 10 years. Today, post operation, she can walk and attend to her needs with minimal difficulty.
Soundarnayi’s case was unique, because she was not only short and fat, but also a diabetic. Surgeons are normally cautious about operating on diabetics. However, the doctors’ team lead by Prof R Dhanapal, Head of the Department and Professor of Orthopaedics, SRM Hospital and Research Centre, took her case as a challenge and performed the bilateral total knee replacement. This is the first operation of its kind done at SRM Hospital.
In the United States, similar operations could cost over $ 24,000 (approximately Rs 9.6 lakh) and in Chennai the costs could range between Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.7 lakh. However, the service-oriented SRM Hospital charges a mere Rs 80,000/-, which happened to be the cost for the implant and the hospital charges. Operations are heavily subsidised at SRM Hospital.
After the success of Soundarnayi’s case, the hospital has performed 17 similar operations with positive results.