KRISHNA Heart and Super Specialty Institute

The Times of India, Ahmedabad Tuesday, October 7, 2003

By Jahnavi Contractor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: It is perhaps, for the first time in the history of independent India that a British citizen has come for treatment to the country. A Scot is in Ahmedabad, now not as a tourist but as a patient to get knee replacement surgeries.

James Campbell, a resident of Scotland , was asked to wait at least three years if he wished to avail of the National Health Scheme of the UK that provides free medical aid to its citizens.

“But the wait was too long. He is already 68 and the pain was unbearable. He wanted a quality life now, not when he was over 70. But without the NHS we would have had to pay more than 18,000 Euro if we sought private medical treatment back home,” says his wife Pamela Campbell,who is now with her husband at KRISHNA Heart Institute.

“We had already sold our guest house because of his knee as he had difficulty in climbing stairs. We have Indian friends back home who suggested that we should come to Ahmedabad and seek treatment here.

It did make sense as we would spend just 6,000 Euro on medical treatment, air fares and our stay here,” she says.

Joint replacement surgeon, Dr. Vikram Shah, who conducted the surgery here on Monday, says, ‘they were referred to me by my Gujarati NRI patient who happened to be their friend. I sent them my website and that of Krishna Heart Institute and they agreed to come here. He has osteoarthritis in both knees. Joint replacement is the only cure for the problem. I have operated upon one knee on Monday and after five days we would conduct surgery for the other knee,” says Dr Shah.

According to Mrs. Campbell, they would now also advise their other friends to seek treatment here. “We were disappointed with the long waiting period of the NHS. We had to wait to see a specialist who told us that we would have to wait three years to avail of NHS to get the joint replacements done. They do not consider knee problems as ‘life threatening’ and say that it can wait.

“But my husband was in pain and it had affected our life. He would have to sit up with his knee folded through the nights as lying down would aggravate the pain,” she says.

“Mr. and Mrs. Patel with whom we shall be staying in Vadodara after the surgery is completed told us to come here. My husband would undergo physiotherapy in Vadodara and by mid-November we would return home,” she says.

And she is all praise for the hospitals here, especially doctors, nurses and assistants who have been all smiles and very helpful. “I know of at least two families who wanted our opinion on treatment in India and I am going to recommend them to come here rather than wait for years before they can avail of the NHS back home,” she says.

Dr Vikram Shah says that he has operated upon more than 500 NRIs from the US and Canada , 150 from the UK and 100 from Africa. “The treatment we offer in India is the best and we use the same implants as used in the western countries at a fraction of the cost,” he says.