Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 8: As many as 80 patients were screened in a free ortho camp at Baba Fateh Singh Gurdwara, Gandhi Nagar, here on Saturday.
The camp was organized by Shalby Multi-Specialty Hospital Mohali in association with Rotary Club of Jammu city.
In camp Shalby's MD and country renowned joint replacement surgeon, Dr. Vikram I Shah's team led by Dr. Tajinder Bhalla an ortho and joint replacement surgeon gave consultations on knee, hip pain and other orthopedic problems. During the camp a physiotherapy service , BMD and uric acid test were also offered to the patients.
Dr. Shah who is one of India's foremost orthopedic surgeons, who with his team of surgeons and paramedics has done the highest number of joint replacement surgeries in the world, said that tremendous advancements have been made in joint replacements in India in the last 20 years, yet the unmet demand remains huge.
He said , country is seeing an arthritis epidemic. The incidence of knee arthritis in the Indian population is believed to be as much as 15 times higher than what is found in Western nations. USA, with a population of 30 crores, sees 7 lakh total knee replacement surgeries every year, but for India, this figure is only 150,000, he remarked.
While this is a huge jump from a mere 350 knee surgeries that were performed in India in 1994, the unmet demand in the country would be a staggering one crore knee replacements each year, considering the huge size of the population and the propensity of Indians for knee arthritis, he pointed out.
Compared to this, India will be seeing just about one million knee replacements every year by 2022. Knee Replacements today involve much lower infection rates and shorter hospital stays, asserted Dr. Shah
Knee arthritis is expected to emerge as the fourth most common cause of physical disability in India in the next one decade, he maintained. |
