Nagging pains in the knee and hips, and some times in the back, could well be because of one of the genes people carry, said a globally renowned orthopaedic here today.
“Recessive gene is found to be one of the reasons for getting osteoarthritis. And people in the West are more prone to this gene-induced arthritis,” said Dr Chitranjan S. Ranawat. The other reasons for these pains are the habits of squatting and minor injuries.
Dr Ranawat's name hit the headlines in India after he carried out the knee replacement surgery on the former Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Speaking at an international conference here, he said awareness and affordability were the two key issues that needed to be addressed. “In 2001-02 the total knee replacements done was 5,000 and this year the number is put at 60,000-80,000,” he said.
Dr Ranawat, along with global experts in the subject, would discuss knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, ankle and other joint replacements at the three-day international conference that began here today. The event is being organised to mark the 8th biennial conference of Indian Arthroplasty Association. It would have 19 international and 60 Indian faculty teaching the next generation of orthopaedics how to handle cases.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Dr K.J. Reddy, Organising Secretary of the event, said 7 per cent of all Indians would have osteoarthritis. About 60 lakh patients are added to the list every year. The real issue, however, was to promote Indian entrepreneurs to manufacture the necessary devices to reduce costs for patients.
Implants cost Rs 70,000 a piece, leaving knee replacement cost Rs 1.80 lakh-Rs 2 lakh and hip replacement cost Rs 1.50 lakh-Rs 2 lakh .
Subsidised programme
Dr Ranawat and Dr Hariprasad, Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Hospitals (Hyderabad), have asked for Government-backed subsidy programmes to let the poor and low-middle class patients get their knees and hips replaced, allowing them to have a better life.
The conference will have live transmission of surgeries, three knee hip replacements each, shown from Apollo Hospitals. They will demonstrate knee replacements for patients with severely deformed knee and difficult knee with bony defects.
Dr Ross Crawford of Australia, who is participating in the event, said that the real challenge for India is to train the next generation of doctors and give them hands-on experience to perform replacements.