PM Modi applauds AIIMS Bhubaneswar doctors for conducting rare surgery

Bhubaneswar, Feb 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the effort of AIIMS Bhubaneswar doctors for doing first ever quadruple joint replacement surgery on a crippled patient of Odisha.

"Compliments to our doctors for always being at the forefront of innovation and embracing new changes in the medical world. Their dexterity makes us proud!," Modi said in a tweet on Monday.

Earlier, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also appreciated the medical institute for successfully conducting the rare surgery.

AIIMS Bhubaneswar executive director Ashutosh Biswas expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister Modi, Mandaviya and Pradhan for their inspiring words.

The surgery was conducted on a 37-year-old female patient from Aul block of Kendrapara district. She was admitted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar with severely painful arthritic knee and hip joints of both sides.

She was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and was on numerous medications. Unfortunately, she was crippled because of severe arthritic involvements of the hips and knees, AIIMS officials said.

There were no movements in the hip joints and she had very little movement in both the knees. She needed replacement surgeries of all four joints. The patient was evaluated by a team of doctors and planned for surgeries of both the hip and knee joints in one setting, they said.

Four joint replacements at one setting incur numerous challenges to the patient and surgeon. The replacements of the hips were performed first followed by the knees. The surgery was completed in three hours.

The patient was managed in ICU for two days and adequate pain relief was provided. She started walking on the third day and was happy with the outcomes. The cost of the implants and surgery were provided by the state government through Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY).

This is the second case to be reported globally and first of its kind in Odisha where all four joints were replaced in one setting. Previously only one such case has been reported from AIIMS Delhi in which an Odia patient was operated with all four joints replaced in one setting.