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10 breakthrough surgeries Once there was Junnar
Malathy Iyer | December 11, 2010 August 7, 2010
Maharashtra's earliest kings ruled from here, just
an hour from Pune.

True lies
In the course of research for this article May 8, 2010
Finally, narco-analysis as an investigative tool has
on the breathtaking advances India has been shown the door by the SC. But the fair trial
made in medical surgery — from re-do principle needs sharpening
bypass of the kind Prime Minister
Five superstars who flopped at the World
Manmohan Singh had, to the suspended Cup
animation technique used to save the life July 10, 2010
Starts with a bang hitting the crossbar in the first
of an Ahmedabad businessman, or even game against Ivory Coast. Then fades away as the
the small-intestine operation on Amitabh key matches begin.
Bachchan — a renowned surgeon said More in this Section
New York comes to New Delhi these days
for its heart problems. Many say that’s
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 India’s
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 do
is bring you a sense of the exciting work
that’s going on FROM THE TIMES OF INDIA

LATEST MOST POPULAR

Until a decade back, India's rich and
1. Sweden calls Stockholm blasts 'terrorist attack'
famous bypassed the country if they
2. Visa-on-arrival for Buddhist pilgrims from 5 more
needed an open heart surgery. And Go-West was the mantra that ruled their minds and countries
guided their health decisions. Be it a liver transplant, facelift or cancer surgery, they were
3. US, New Zealand secretly resume intelligence ties:
never impressed with desi doctors or infrastructure back home. Report
4. Two blasts hit Stockholm, medialinked to
But this no longer is the case. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needed a re-do Afghanistan
bypass heart surgery - still considered a niche and difficult operation - he chose a 5. Russia said UK stopped it tracking former KGB agent
home-grown doctor and a public hospital. So did a lakh of other Indians. Ramakant Litvinenko's killers

Panda, who operated on the PM, says, "Between January and November 2010, heart More from The Times of India
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 PROFILES
number of heart operations performed each year.
Kids can make the
world a better place
The success story in surgeries is not limited to heart alone - though it is the most At 13, Adora Svitak already
illustrative one. Be it surgery for cancer, ophthalmology or bone joints, India's other men has a formidable resume.
- 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 More Profiles
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. FROM TIMES BLOGS

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

1 of 2 12/12/2010 12:29 PM
10 breakthrough surgeries | Cover Story | Times Crest http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/10-breakthrough-surgeries-4246

in the West in certain fields, " said Dr Rajan Badwe, who heads the country's premier The most powerful man in
cancer-care hub, Tata Memorial Hospital, in Mumbai. Take the case of oesophageal or the world
The most powerful man in the
head and neck cancers. As India has the largest number of patients in the world suffering world is Assange.
from these forms of cancers, its surgeons are versatile in treating them. MORE CP Surendran
INSIDE
Wen knows the address
What has brought about this change? The medical fraternity gives three reasons. First, ZERO-SUM WORLD
Political corruption in India is as
the booming economy has resulted in infusion of funds to build infrastructure and there bad as we have in China.
is a healthy readiness to invest in newer technologies. Swank hospitals have sprung up Tarun Vijay

not only in metro cities but also in smaller towns. Many hospitals in metros such as Delhi
The deregulation that is not
and Mumbai have placed orders for robotic arms to perform surgeries.
There is once again fear of steep
rise in fuel prices.
Second, these new healthcare hubs are more often than not manned by doctors who have Alok Tiwari
Old world order
returned home due to the boom in opportunities.
A gloomy prognosis of More Times Blogs
international politics in th
Third, there also is the matter of skills and expertise. Until 15 years back, Indian aftermath of the recessio
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. Home | Cover
Ditto in the field of cancer. "Until the 1990s, pancreatic cancers had a mortality of 20 per Other Times Group news sites
cent, but now it is down to 2 per cent, " says Dr P Jagannath, the surgeon who operated The Times of India | The Economic Times
on Amitabh Bachchan's diverticulitis (a disease of the small intestine) six years back. He इकनॉिमक टाइ स | ઈકોનોિમક ટાઈ સ
credits this outcome to two factors - the availability of newer technologies that make Mumbai Mirror | Times Now

operations safer for patients and the practise that Indian doctors now get. Indiatimes | नवभारत टाइ स
महारा टाइ स

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