Thumbs up for cheaper orthopaedic implants

Dr Satyasheel Naik,orthopaedic surgeon said it will be of great help to patients as some imported joints are as costly as Rs 75,000. The cost will be reduced by 20 per cent,says Naik. Dr Chetan Pradhan,head of the trauma surgery wing at Sancheti institute points out that plates,screws and other imported implants are four times costlier than the indigenous ones. If a standard Indian plate costs Rs 5,000 then the imported one will not be less than Rs 20,000. He too agreed that the cost of knee implants will reduce considerably.

Dr Arjun Vegas,consulting orthopaedic surgeon at Inlaks and Budhrani hospital said that this exemption of import duty will enable the arthritic patient to save a lot of money. Even if the cost of a joint is Rs 60,000 taxes levied on it amount to Rs 15,000. Ten years ago there were barely 150-200 knee replacement surgeries. Today,in Pune at least 5,000 knees are being replaced every year,he says. Not only have joint replacements become very common,orthopaedic surgeons also have to use nails and plates for fixing fractures.

Dr S S Shintre,head of the department of Orthopaedics at Sassoon General hospital said that they performed 5-6 surgeries related to the spine and other joints every day. This move will even benefit the government hospitals as imported implants can also be purchased due to its reduced cost.

Meanwhile health activists have welcomed the budget. According to Dr Abhay Shukla,coordinator of the Jan Arogya Abhiyan said that the allocation in the budget has gone up from Rs.19,534 crore to Rs.22,300 crore for 2010-11. It is a modest increase however as most of the existing programmes like HIV/AIDS and pulse polio programmes have received generous funds but other diseases have not been looked at. There is no allocation for urban health too,says Shukla.