Pune surgeon to assist Dr Ranawat while conducting PM’s knee

PUNE, SEPT 29: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, his troublesome knee, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon and Pune. The connection is right...

PUNE, SEPT 29: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, his troublesome knee, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon and Pune. The connection is right there. City orthopaedic surgeon Dr K H Sancheti will assist US-based Dr Chittaranjan Ranawat in the operation of the PM’s knee on October 10 alongwith Dr N S Laud at the Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai.

The trio form the core of the Ranawat Research Foundation, New York, which has its India office in Pune, at the Sancheti Institute for Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr Ranawat is the president.

Dr Sancheti will leave for Mumbai on October 8. “Dr Ranawat is expected to arrive the same day. A team comprising the three of us, the Prime Minister’s physician, anaesthetists — both Indian and American — will perform the two-hour surgery,”said Dr Sancheti on Thursday.

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“Dr Ranawat is a pioneer in the development of the knee-replacement technique, the total knee prosthesis. The cross-link structure will make the knee strong enough to carry the weight of a truckload. This surgery, we hope, will give knee-replacement surgeries in India, a fillip. The problem is five times more than in the West,” opined Dr Sancheti.

Explaining the surgery, he said,“The thigh bone and the tibia will be operated upon first. Then, the high density polyethelene part will be fixed on the tibia with a medical glue. After which, the chromium cobalt stainless steel alloy will be fixed on the thigh bone.” Dr Sancheti is among the first to have performed knee transplants in India.

His association with Dr Ranawat began in 1974 while on a visit to New York. The relationship culminated in the Ranawat Research Foundation’s India office in Pune.“Dr Ranawat had been visiting several orthopaedic hospitals in India. In 1986, he set up the foundation at Sancheti Hospital. Every year, he holds workshops, imparts training and new techniques to the surgeons in India here. Through the Foundation, he transfers technology and personally trains surgeons. In India, Dr Ranawat holds workshops. In June, he had held a programme attended by 250 orthopaedic surgeons from all over India,” says Dr Sancheti.

Every year, the Foundation sends three promising surgeons to New York to upgrade their knowledge on an exchange programme by which Indian surgeons can work directly under Dr Ranawat’s guidance. Plans are on to provide an `Indian knee’ that would cut down the surgery costs to Rs 20,000 from Rs 80,000, averred Dr Sancheti.