In a laudable achievement, the Department of Orthopaedics at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) has successfully performed three complicated surgeries under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS).

The team, led by Dr. K. Kamalanathan, Professor and Head of the Department, successfully completed a spinal cord compression and stabilisation operation, a total hip transplant surgery, and a total knee replacement surgery in the hospital.

According to Dr. K. Kamalanathan, the patient, Bulkish Fathima (50), from Coimbatore, who was treated for the tuberculosis in the spine, was bedridden for nearly a year because of related complications.

“She had lost L1 and L2 in the vertebra because of the complication, and the disease was further eating up her spine. We removed the debris and stabilised it by using a titanium rod and screw. If left, it could have damaged the patient permanently,” the doctor added. The surgery was performed on July 21.

V. Chitra, a software engineer from Ramanathapuram, who was suffering Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, had to undergo a transplant of both her hip joints after the disease had damaged them.

“She had to take steroids to control the disease, but that created numerous complications, including the damage of the immune system. We had treated her in such a way that the steroid, which she has to take for life, does not affect her vital organs,” said Kamalanathan, adding that her hip joints were replaced in the uncommented total hip replacement surgery.

While the replacement of one hip was done on July 14, the second hip was replaced on August 8, and now the patient could walk fine, without pain. However, the doctors claimed that the patient should be kept under care and might experience pain in the future.

In another operation, the doctors had successfully replaced both the knees of a 55-year-old woman. “The patient, Ayisha Beevi, had severe knee deformity, which could have created more damage if not treated sooner. We replaced both the knees in a gap of three months, and now she walks fine,” added the doctor.

The hospital authorities further claimed that the surgeries could have cost more in private hospitals, and added that they were done at a low cost at CMCH under the Chief Minister’s inurance scheme.

“The hospital rarely sees patients with such diseases. However, on an average, we do up to six knee transplants a month,” a senior official from CMCH said.