Joint replacement surgery in India
What is a joint replacement surgery?
A joint is where two or more bones come together, like the knee, hip, and the shoulder. A joint replacement surgery is a surgical procedure where the damaged joint is replaced with the new one. The surgery is often done by the orthopedic surgeon. Sometimes, the surgeon will not remove the entire joint but fix or repairs the damaged parts. By undergoing this surgery, the patient will be benefitted a lot. It will improve their quality of life. Replacing the joint will help relieve the pain, and help you feel better. It also increases the mobility.
What causes damage to the joints?
Joints may be damaged by arthritis, injuries or simply aging. The joints may be damaged due to the wear and tear action. Any damage to the joint will cause pain, stiffness, and swelling of that part. The damages inside joint will limit the blood flow, causing problems in the bone. The bones need blood to remain healthy, grow and repair themselves.
The new joint is called the prosthesis which may be made of plastic, metal or ceramic. These will be cemented or non-cemented to keep the joints in place. The cemented joints are more commonly used among elderly and people with poor bone quality who do not move about randomly as younger adults. The cement holds the joint to the bone.
The non-cemented joint is used for younger adults who are more active and have bones of good quality. An uncemented joint will take longer to heal and a longer time to attach itself to it.
A new joint will lasts for about 15 to 20 years. So the younger adults who have undergone a joint replacement will have to do another surgery after 20 years or so.
What happens during the surgery?
At first, the surgeon will give you a local or general anesthesia that will make you fall asleep or numb a particular area so that you don’t feel the pain. The medical team will them replace the damaged joint with the new one. Each surgery is different in its own way and how long it takes will depend on the type of surgery the patient is going through. A knee or hip joint replacement will take about 1 to 2 hours or even less than that if there aren’t many complications. Once the surgery is done you will be moved to the recovery room until you recover from the anesthesia and stay awake.
What happens after the surgery?
After the joint replacement surgery, you will have to stay in the hospital for about 10 days. If you are an elderly or if you have additional abnormalities than the duration of stay at the hospital will be extended. The time you have to spend at the hospital with the intermediate-care facility will depend on your overall health condition.
Initially, you will be able to walk only with the help of walking stick or crutches. You may have some pain because your muscles are weak and need time for healing. The pain is only temporary and will be cured with medicines within few weeks or months.
Some of the specific joint replacements include:
- Hip replacement
- Knee replacement
- Shoulder replacement
- Ankle replacement
How far will the surgery be successful?
The success rate will highly depend on how your take care of yourself after you go home. Following the doctor’s advice, medicines and eating a healthy diet will enhance your chances of quick recovery. Most of the surgeries are successfully provided the problems don’t get severe. Some of the problems include:
- Infection: the areas around the new joint may get infected. This may happen while you are at the hospital, or after returning home or even years later. If the infections are minor it can be treated with drugs. If the infections get deeper or severe then it may require another operation to treat and cure the infection with a new joint.
- Blood clots: if your blood moves very slowly then it might form lumps resulting in blood clots. The blood clots may be the main cause of pain or swelling. Sometimes the doctor will find a way to heal the clots. The doctor may suggest drugs thin the blood or suggest exercises, boots or special stockings make the blood move faster.
- Loosening: the new joint may get loosen over time causing severe pain. If the loosening gets worse, then you have to do another operation to reattach the joint to the bone.
- Dislocation: sometimes, after the surgery, the ball may get out of the socket. This happens mostly in case of knee joint replacement surgery. The hip can be corrected without surgery. Sometimes, a brace may be worn for a while if the dislocation happens.
- Wear: too much wear will result in loosening. In the case of a plastic joint, it gets loose over time. In that case, the doctor will replace the plastic and not the whole joint.
- Nerve & blood vessel injury: during the surgery, the nerve surrounding the joint may get damaged. Blood vessels may also be injured. This damage may improve over time and disappear.
Risks associated with joint replacement surgery:</>
Apart from infection & swelling, joint replacement surgery may also have other associated risks like other surgeries. The other major risk of this surgery is that the new joint may not work effectively. It is less common, but there are chances that the new joint may get loose or dislocate after some time. It is important to remember that the new joint may get worn out after 20 years. This means you will have to undergo another surgery after a span of 20 years.
Some other risks associated with this surgery include:
- Implant loosening
- Fracture
- Dislocation
- Damage to the nerve or blood vessel
- Stiffness or pain
Some other alternatives to this surgery are:
- Joint injections
- Oral medicines
- Hand therapy exercises
- Arthrodesis surgery to fuse bones together
- Resection arthroplasty to remove the bone surface
- Surgery or tendons or ligaments to repair joint injuries.
Top 15 orthopedic hospitals in India for joint replacement surgery:
- All India institute of medical sciences, New Delhi
- Apollo hospital, Chennai
- Sparsh hospital, Bangalore
- Moolchand orthopedics hospital, Delhi
- Indian spinal injury center, Delhi
- Sancheti institute of orthopedics, Pune
- Christian medical college, Vellore
- Hosmat hospital, Bangalore
- Post graduate institute of medical education & research, Chandigarh
- Ganga hospital, Coimbatore
- Max super specialty hospital, Delhi
- MIOT hospital, Chennai
- Aditya Birla memorial hospital, Pune
- Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital, Mumbai
- Shelby hospital, Ahmedabad
Some more details about these hospitals and the specialists:
AIIMS:
Salient features:
- Treatment available for every medical discipline
- Modern and hi-tech physiotherapy unit
- Comprehensive care
- Expert and skilled doctors
An esteemed panel of doctors:
- Vijay Kumar
- Ravi Mittal
- Ashok Kumar
- Vivek
Apollo Hospital
Salient features:
- 3000 surgeries performed
- Special units for tendons, muscles & joints
- Extreme team of nursing staff
- Multidisciplinary consultation available
An esteemed panel of doctors:
- Anand
- Rajkumar
- Senthil Kamala Kannan
Sparsh Hospital
Salient features:
- Globally recognized surgeons
- Experienced nursing staff
- High-quality equipment and infrastructure
- Comprehensive care
- SIOR
Salient features:
- ISO certified hospital
- 24*7 emergency services
- Expert team of doctors
- Free medical camps
An esteemed panel of doctors:
- Sandeep
- Atul
- Chetan Puram
- Rahul
Christian medical college
Salient features:
- Excellent infrastructure
- Quality ensured in every aspect of treatment
- Dedicated nursing staffs
- Skilled and trained doctors
- Free medical camps
- Nearly 6000 surgeries performed annually
An esteemed panel of doctors:
- Vinod Mathew
- Thomas
- Sumanth Samuel
- Ravichand
To know more about these specialty hospitals and skilled surgeons log on to www.freedoctoehelpline.com or call us at +918010555444.
The cost of joint replacement surgery in India:
The cost of joint replacement surgery will depend on a number of factors such as:
- Number of days spent in hospital
- Type of implant and surgical approach
- Pre-existing health condition
- Length of time spent in operating room
- Unexpected care or equipment required
The average hospital charge is about INR 3,50,000. The cost of partial knee replacement is 10 to 20 % lesser than the total knee replacement. This is about INR 70,000. The main reason for the reduction in cost is it requires a shorter duration of stay at the hospital.
One should expect multiple bills following a knee replacement surgery. They are:
- Hospital bills
- Bills for all treatments
- Other procedures performed by the surgeons like physiotherapy etc.
Hospitals will sometimes give you discounts if you have a health insurance. You can ask them for a payment plan or discount before you schedule your surgery. Try estimating the cost well in advance so that you can prepare well for the surgery.
By knowing the cost well in advance, you can avoid surprises and potential hardships down the line.
To have appointments with our doctors or to know more about the surgery, you can anytime contact us at www.freedotorhelpline.com or call us at +918010555444.
Medical tourism in India
What is medical tourism?
medical tourism in india
It can be defined as the process of traveling outside the country of residence for the purpose of receiving medical care. Initially, it referred to the travel of patients from less-developing countries to the developed nations for the purpose of undergoing treatments that are not available in their homeland. Nowadays people traveling from richer to less-developed countries are becoming more common in order to access health services. This is often combined with relatively low-cost of treatments, inexpensive flight rates, increased marketing and online consumer information about the availability of medical services.
The quality of care In India:
There are 2 main components for the quality of service in the healthcare sector. They are:
- Technical or mechanical quality
- Serviceable or functional quality
The technical quality is based on the patient’s diagnostic algorithm while the functional quality is based on the services offered by the healthcare centers. The functional or service quality plays a vital role in attracting consumers to the medical industry.
One of the strongest barriers of medical tourism is the perception of poor quality. This barrier can be overcome by promoting the marketing strategies and accreditation from a recognized institution. Such accreditation will also strengthen the confidence in the quality of healthcare. This confidence can be even more developed if the accreditation is followed by an affiliation with a reputable hospital or healthcare center.
India has about 28 JCI accredited hospitals. The hospitals provide a wide range of options for the patients. The patients can decide for themselves whether to stay at the hospital during the course of treatment or to stay at a paid accommodation nearby. Some hospitals or healthcare centers also provide an option of continuing the treatment through telemedicine.
Healthcare capital of India:
medical tourism in India
Chennai is popularly known as the healthcare capital of India. It has many multi & super specialty hospitals spread all across the city. This attracts about 45% of the international patients and about 30% of the domestic patients every day. There are various other factors that attract the tourists. Those include low-cost treatments & little or no waiting periods.
Most of the multi-specialty and super specialty hospitals in Chennai have about 12000 beds for the patients. Out of this count, only half of it is shared by domestic patients. The rest is shared by people from other states or countries. Dental clinics have attracted the most population from other countries. This has helped the dental care tourism in Chennai to a great extent.
The ease of travel for medical tourism:
The government has removed visa restrictions for tourists who visit other countries for the sake of medical treatments. They have also removed restrictions on visas that require 2 months gap between consecutive visits for people from gulf countries. These countries are more likely to boost the medical tourism. There is a new scheme established by the Indian government which allows the foreign nationals to stay in India for about 30 days for medical reasons. This is known as visa-on-arrival scheme. The citizens from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, republic of Korea & Nigeria availed the most visas.
Treatment types under medical tourism:
The different types of treatments and their availability also act as an important factor in the decision to engage in a medical tourism. The most common treatment procedures that patients undergo during the medical tourism include dentistry, organ transplantation, elective cosmetic surgery, cardiac surgery and orthopedic surgery.
Reproductive tourism and reproductive outsourcing are growing in the field of medical tourism. It refers to the patients who travel abroad to engage in treatments that help resolve problems related to reproduction.
Apart from its cost, another factor which attracts medical tourism is its accessibility. The lack of unavailability of the technology or prohibition in the home country will subsequently lead to medical tourism. Some common examples are stem cell therapy and cytoplasmic transfer.
The language barrier:
India being a diverse nation has a huge diversity of languages. This might act as a barrier for the international tourists. To avoid this barrier, English is often considered as the official language. It is widely spoken by many individuals and is universally accepted by medical professionals. Many health centers or hospitals which emerge as the hotspot of medical tourism have hired many language translators to overcome this obstacle. This has made many foreign nationals feel more comfortable while at the same time helping in facilitating the treatments.
Major healthcare providers in India:
There are a number of private hospitals in India which provide medical tourism services to the people out there. Some of the major groups are listed below:
- Apollo hospitals
- Aster Medicity
- Care hospitals
- Fortis healthcare
- Medantha hospital
- Narayana health hospital
- Tata memorial hospital, Mumbai
- Max hospital, new Delhi
- Continental hospital, Hyderabad
- CHL hospital, Indore
Some facts & statistics about medical tourism which you may not know!
- Medical tourism has been in existence for over 1000 years.
- There are about 485 JCI accredited hospitals around the world.
- One may spend more time at the hotel than at the hospital during the medical trip.
- 64% of the patients who do travel abroad do not have a health insurance.
- About 33% of the medical tourism patients travel for cosmetic surgery.
- About 70% of the medical tourism cases are rated as excellent.
Top hospitals in India that tourist prefers to visit:
FEHI specializes in cardiovascular care. It performs major operations like open heart surgery, heart transplants, etc. it is consistently ranked as one of the top heart centers all over India. Its other specialties include bone/joint health, liver treatments, etc.
- Rockland hospital: New Delhi
The rock land hospital is located in India’s capital of New Delhi, is one of the premier healthcare centers in India. It is popularly known for its cosmetic surgeries and ENT procedures.
- Apollo hospital: Banglore:
It provides a full spectrum of healthcare services using latest medical advancements such as nuclear medicine, cosmetology, dermatology, etc. It also has international representatives to help arrange for medical vacations.
- Global hospital: Chennai
Global hospitals are widely spread throughout India and Asia. There are about 22 hospitals in Asia. It has 13 different health disciplines. Some of them are breast oncology, liver procedures, dentistry, bariatric surgery, dermatology, etc.
It is considered as the “temple of cure”, is the most established healthcare center in Chennai. It has about 800 beds and 200 ICU units. This multi-specialty hospital provides various treatments such as gastroenterology, neurology and organ transplants. Their goal is to provide services to people of all economic levels.
To know more about these health care centers and also about those which aren’t mentioned here, you can seek the help of our doctors at Free Doctor Helpline or call us at +918010555444. The free doctor helpline will help in facilitating the international patients with the best doctors at best hospitals.
Risks of medical tourism:
Medical tourism can increase the risk of hospital acquired or healthcare infections. These are also known as nosocomial infections. For instance, if the same injection is used between two patients there are greater chances for spreading infections such as HIV or hepatitis. Infections with the multiresistant organism, the spread of noroviruses, and mycobacterial infections are the commonly cited cases of medical tourism risks. People who accompany the patients are also at risks of being infected.
A new terminology called “transplant tourism” which accounts for the tissue rejection and critical infectious complications4 after the transplants. These infections are more common among the medical tourists compared to other transplant patients.
Another dangerous thing about medical tourism is the blood supply. Most cases, blood is obtained from paid donors and may not be adequately screened to check for any contamination.
Traveling back to their home country after the surgical procedure may also cause risk of infection. It can be reduced by drinking plenty of water, stretching your legs when seated, or going for a small walk every 2 to 3 hours on a long trip.
Advantages of medical tourism:
Some of the advantages include:
- ¨ Provides low-cost treatments
- ¨ Accessibility to hi-tech equipment and trained doctors
- ¨ Availability of latest medical instruments
- ¨ There is no language barrier as English is considered as the official language. Also, many hospitals hire language translators to ease this problem
- ¨ Availability of low-cost generic medicines
- ¨ Relaxed visa rules
Medical tourism packages in India:
The below are the lists of a broad category of medical tourism packages provided by the tourism companies in India:
- Dental care
- Eye care
- Heart surgery
- Cosmetic surgery
- Ayurveda therapies
- Yoga & meditation
- Orthopedic surgery
- ENT care
- Health check up
- Oncology
- Pediatrics
- Cardiology
- Nephrology
- Neurology
The cost of various medical tourism packages In India are listed below:
- Heart bypass– INR 3,34,000
- Angioplasty-INR 2,12,000
- Face lift-INR 2,57,000
- Liposuction- INR 1,80,000
- Breast implants– INR 2,25,000
- LASIK (both eyes)-INR 3,00,000
- Retina- INR 54,000
- Cataract surgery-INR 1,80,000
- IVF treatment– INR 1,60,000
- Knee replacements-INR 4,42,000
- Hip replacements-INR 4,62,000
- Heart valve replacement-INR 6,10,000
- Dental implant-INR 5,78,000
- Spinal fusion-INR 6,62,000
Now it is very clear why India is often chosen as the best medical tourist spot in the world. A large number of excellent healthcare centers in India, it has become the premier location to travel and receive the best medical treatments. The various unique treatment packages offered at affordable rates helps in a great way to run the medical tourism industry. This is the reason behind the drastic establishment of the medical tourism industry.
If you would like to get more details regarding the medical tourism packages and the famous healthcare consultants please do log on to our website Free Doctor Helpline or call us and Ask A Doctor at +918010555444.
