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Home > Cover Story > 10 breakthrough surgeries

CUTS THAT HEAL

10 breakthrough surgeriesMalathy Iyer | December 11, 2010

In the course of research for this article

on the breathtaking advances India has

made in medical surgery from re-do

bypass of the kind Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh had, to the suspended

animation technique used to save the life

of an Ahmedabad businessman, or even

the small-intestine operation on Amitabh

Bachchan a renowned surgeon saidNew York comes to New Delhi these days

for its heart problems. Many say thats

not an exaggeration. Indian doctors now

routinely perform cutting-edge

procedures be it to remove deep

tumours in the brain, or to correct

malfunction in the femur bone. To

represent this great leap in Indias

operation theatres, TOI-Crest brings you

10 surgeries that underline both the

coming of age of home-grown methods

and the sharpness that technology lends

to medicine. This is by no means a

definitive list; what this story seeks to dois bring you a sense of the exciting work

thats going on

Until a decade back, India's rich and

famous bypassed the country if they

needed an open heart surgery. And Go-West was the mantra that ruled their minds and

guided their health decisions. Be it a liver transplant, facelift or cancer surgery, they were

never impressed with desi doctors or infrastructure back home.

But this no longer is the case. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needed a re-do

bypass heart surgery - still considered a niche and difficult operation - he chose a

home-grown doctor and a public hospital. So did a lakh of other Indians. Ramakant

Panda, who operated on the PM, says, "Between January and November 2010, heart

surgeons across India performed 97, 000 operations, including bypasses and valve

replacements. " In fact, India stands third globally (after the US and China) in the

number of heart operations performed each year.

The success story in surgeries is not limited to heart alone - though it is the most

illustrative one. Be it surgery for cancer, ophthalmology or bone joints, India's other men

- and women - in blue are abreast with the latest in the field. Contemporary designs in

joints in the fields of spine and orthopaedics make their Indian debut almost alongside or

immediately after they appear on European shelves. Suddenly, the number of medical

device companies that are setting up Indian offices has gone up. Be it the Mercedes Benz

of the hearing aids segment, Phonak, or St Jude Medical, which has a vast repertoire of

devices, many have in recent years put India on their marketing map.

"There is no doubt that Indian surgeons are as good, if not better, than their counterparts

more | |

Kids can make theworld a better place

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eakthrough surgeries | Cover Story | Times Crest http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/10-breakthrough-surge

12/12/2010

8/8/2019 10 Breakthrough Surgeries _...

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in the West in certain fields, " said Dr Rajan Badwe, who heads the country's premier

cancer-care hub, Tata Memorial Hospital, in Mumbai. Take the case of oesophageal or

head and neck cancers. As India has the largest number of patients in the world suffering

from these forms of cancers, its surgeons are versatile in treating them.

What has brought about this change? The medical fraternity gives three reasons. First,

the booming economy has resulted in infusion of funds to build infrastructure and there

is a healthy readiness to invest in newer technologies. Swank hospitals have sprung up

not only in metro cities but also in smaller towns. Many hospitals in metros such as Delhi

and Mumbai have placed orders for robotic arms to perform surgeries.

Second, these new healthcare hubs are more often than not manned by doctors who have

returned home due to the boom in opportunities.

Third, there also is the matter of skills and expertise. Until 15 years back, Indian

hospitals had a mortality of 30 per cent in heart surgeries. Today the figure stands

between 3 per cent and 5 per cent - inching closer to the American figure of 2. 7 per cent.

Ditto in the field of cancer. "Until the 1990s, pancreatic cancers had a mortality of 20 per

cent, but now it is down to 2 per cent, " says Dr P Jagannath, the surgeon who operated

on Amitabh Bachchan's diverticulitis (a disease of the small intestine) six years back. He

credits this outcome to two factors - the availability of newer technologies that make

operations safer for patients and the practise that Indian doctors now get.

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eakthrough surgeries | Cover Story | Times Crest http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/10-breakthrough-surge

12/12/2010