Knee replacement now in all Telangana govt tertiary hospitals

Hyderabad: After successfully conducting high-end knee replacement surgeries at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) and Gandhi Hospital, the Telangana government has now decided to broaden such specialised health care services across all the tertiary teaching hospitals in the State for patients from poor family backgrounds.

As part of these efforts, three knee replacement surgeries were performed recently by the orthopaedic wing of Siddipet Government Medical College and Hospital. Last month, at OGH, the orthopaedic surgeons had conducted more than 20 knee replacement surgeries while at Gandhi Hospital, the surgeons conducted three knee replacement surgeries within a span of 12-hours, a unique record for a government hospital, given the logistics and coordination that is needed between multiple medical departments for taking-up such complex procedures.

The surgeons from the government tertiary hospitals in Telangana are conducting knee replacement surgeries free of cost, which otherwise would cost anywhere between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 8 lakh in private hospitals. Almost all the surgeries are being covered under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme of MOHFW.

On Tuesday, Health Minister T Harish Rao, who personally met the three patients who underwent knee replacement surgeries at Siddipet Government Hospital, urged people not to end up incurring out-of-pocket expenses by opting for private hospitals for orthopaedic and even heart surgeries. “Such specialised surgeries will be taken up across all the government tertiary hospitals in Telangana. I urge patients, especially from poor communities, to make use of the opportunity,” he said.

In Siddipet, the field-level workers along with orthopaedic surgeons conducted special health camps to identify patients needing joint and knee replacement surgeries. A total of 72 patients in the Siddipet district have been identified of which three have undergone surgery while the rest will be taken up in the coming weeks. The Minister said that every week, nearly six knee replacement surgeries will be taken up at Siddipet Government hospital.

To ensure complex surgeries are conducted frequently at all the government tertiary hospitals in Telangana, the State government had recently greenlighted the initiative to upgrade medical infrastructure in such facilities. In December, high-end medical equipment including orthopedic surgery theatres, Cath labs and CT scans worth Rs 9 crore was inaugurated at OGH. Since then, the OGH doctors have conducted 200 angiogram and angioplasty procedures free of cost for poor patients. Four more Cath labs worth Rs 28 crore will be available for patients in the coming weeks at government teaching hospitals in Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam and Gandhi Hospital.

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