Wockhardt Hospitals Blog

Tomorrow is International Nurses day. 12th May is a special day for not only for those people who have led from the front in delivering care with a smile in their lips,but also a day for all of us in the medical fraternity who are so much dependent on them.

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12,which is also the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. The International Council of Nurses commemorates this important day each year along with a Nurses Day theme.

The International Nurses Day theme for 2009 is: Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Care Innovations.

We at Wockhardt Hospitals would like to take this oppurtunity to thank our Nurses and would like to wish them a Happy Nurses day specialy for all those time we took your services for granted ..

A recent article in Hindustan times,points to the fact that " Medical Tourism in India has actually not slowed down in spite of the downcast economic weakness across the world.

"California resident Barbara Pastal, 47, had been trimming her household expenditure for months to save up for a hip replacement surgery when her husband’s firm cut his pay by 30 per cent in February.

It meant she would have to wait longer to save the $21,000 (Rs 8.5 lakh) that the procedure costs in the US.

“A friend recommended I go to India for the surgery. One of her family members had had a good experience here,” said Pastal, who arrived in India last week and underwent the surgery at a Mumbai clinic. “It’s much cheaper and there is no waiting.”

Pastal said she paid Rs 3.5 lakh for the airfare and hospital expenses, less than half of what the surgery would have cost her at home.

The economic downturn in the West is turning out to be a boon for India’s healthcare sector as many middle-income people look for ways to save amid pay cuts and layoffs.

Medical tourism is not new, but recession has accelerated the trend and more patients seem to be convinced that the quality standards in India can be comparable to any Hospitals across the world.

The Wockhardt group of hospitals,with a tie up with Harvard Medical International, and accredited by Joint Commision International (JCI ),has seen a 40 per cent increase in International patients in 2008-09 as compared to 2007-08, according to Vishal Bali, chief executive officer of Wockhardt Hospitals

According to data released by Deloitte ,around 4.5 lakhs medical travelers visit India to get treated in 08-09. Deloitte pegs the industry growth rate to be around 38%. Presently the bulk of medical tourism centers revolves around,India, Thailand,Singapore,Malaysia,Mexico,Costa Rica along with Indonesia,Turkey and Poland.

With more US companies cutting back on Health Benefits,medical tourism has become a viable option for US patients since it not only helps them to save money when they come down to India ,but also they have access to a world class clinical experts in the form of knowledgeable,western educated,English speaking healthcare staff in an environment that is friendly and medically well advanced in terms of infrastructure.

Starting from today every Saturday we will be featuring a "Doctor Spotlight Series" which will help our users to know our doctors at Wockhardt Hospital locations across India,including their surgical expertise,clinical specialties along with their OPD schedules. Patients and care givers are kindly requested to send in their questions to the doctor as a blog comment or an email us their questions at enquiries@wockhardthospitals.net.

Today we feature Doctor Kaushal Malhan,Joint Replacement / Resurfacing and sports Surgeon at Wockhardt Hospitals,Mumbai

DR. KAUSHAL C. MALHAN - Joint Replacement Specialist /Resurfacing and sports Surgeon ,Wockhardt Hospitals,Mumbai

Qualification

FRCS (Orth) U.K., FRCS (Surg) U.K, Dip. Sports Medicine U.K.
MS (Orth) Bombay, D (Orth) Bombay.


Click here to Schedule an Appointment with this Doctor Online



Dr. Malhan completed the British orthopaedic training programme in the Oswestry-Stoke rotation (West Midlands) and was awarded the FRCS(Orth). Besides extensive training in primary and revision joint replacement surgery he has also worked in the National institute of sports surgery - UK and units dedicated to knee and shoulder arthroscopic surgery. He is well versed with advanced techniques in cartilage and ligament reconstruction. Dr Malhan did his post FRCS (Orth) fellowship in advanced joint surgery at the Freeman hospital, Newcastle - UK. He is presently a consultant surgeon at the Wockhardt Bone and Joint hospital, Bombay (now called Mumbai) and specializes in knee, hip and shoulder surgery. Here he has established the Regional Hip Resurfacing and Joint Replacement Center for western India. This center has state of the art infrastructure and attracts patients from all over India and overseas.

Dr. Malhan has been in the forefront in the field of high bending total knee replacement and minimally invasive replacement surgery. The first minimally invasive mobile bearing unicompartmental knee replacement in India was done by him.

Medical Breakthroughs of Dr Malhan :Dr. Kaushal Malhan pioneered and popularized hip resurfacing surgery with the first ever live surgical demonstration of the Birmingham hip resurfacing done in Mumbai. This was done in an international conference on resurfacing at the Wockhardt Hospital, Bombay.

The conference was presided over by Dr. Dereck McMinn the inventor of the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing. Dr. Malhan has performed the highest number of Birmingham hip resurfacings in Bombay. He is also the only surgeon to have publicly demonstrated his skills in Mumbai, time and again. Recently two of his live demonstrations of hip resurfacing surgery were telecast to multiple centers within India, for the benefit of other orthopaedic surgeons.

He is also actively involved in training overseas surgeons in hip resurfacing and recently did a live demonstration for surgeons from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. He has also had the privilege to demonstrate this surgery in one of the largest teaching hospitals in the country.

Recently, Dr. Malhan was selected from amongst India's joint replacement and resurfacing surgeons to lecture on hip resurfacing for an audience of North American doctors at a symposium organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII).

Academic Achievements


* 12Publications (9 in international journals like The Knee, Spine, Arthroscopy)
* 21 Presentations (18 in international meetings)
* 2 Dissertations
* Demonstrator on faculty in India and abroad – 7
* 15 international courses and symposia
* Guest lectures at meetings –32 (these include lectures to prestigious medical bodies like the IMA and GPA)
* Teaches trauma life support in the Wockhardt trauma course which was started by him.
* His views and articles have been published in reputed newspapers and magazines like the Times. Express, Free Press journal, Midday etc.

Wockhardt Hospitals has established itself as a leader in the field of health care. Our vision to excel has been shaped by our team of highly motivated and dedicated people. Wockhardt invites qualified, talented and motivated individual who share our vision to provide the best possible care to our patients.For Wockhardt its not only about providing world class affordable health care to our patients,but its also about making our patients partners in Care. For more details log in to Careers page at our website

We are one of the nations fastest growing Hospital chain of 18 Super-Specialty hospitals in India,15 state-of-the-art facilities with more than 5000 employees ,583 Doctors & 1823 nurses and Approximately 1620 beds across all centres in India.

Wockhardt hospitals provide super speciality care in Heart Care, Brain & Spine, Bone & Joint, Minimal Access Surgery and Women Care.

We also encourage young MBBS Doctors for any specialty to send their CV to us. Experienced Consultants DM/MCh or equivalent with some years experience in the related specialty, in a reputed Institute are invited to apply for the following positions mentioned below.

Brain tumors have always challenged the (hand) procedures. CT scan delineates the bone very well when compared neurosurgeon in many ways. They arise in many locations within and outside the brain substance; can get interlocked with the arteries and nerves; destroy bone and affect the functioning of the brain quite subtly at times.

The first decision-making process is to classify the tumors into benign and malignant .Generally, an experienced neurosurgeon can come to a preliminary conclusion based on the CT scan and MRI scan.

Advances in imaging technology have given the neurosurgeon the ability to see within the skull and its confines in great detail, in the form of CT scan, MRI scan, PET Scan and Digital Subtraction Angiography.

While CT Scan and MRI Scan is commonplace,In PET Scan or Positron Emission Tomography Using isotope-labelled glucose as an intravenous injectable, the scans from this machine show areas of metabolic hyperactivity, which are a direct function of malignancy. PET scans have revolutionised detection of very early stages of cancer.

DIGITAL SUBTRACTION ANGIOGRAPHY: (DSA) This is commonly used to study the anatomical pattern of cerebral vasculature. It is the preferred standard for detecting Aneurysms
and Arterio-venous malformations(AVMs).

Microsurgery for Brain Tumor Treatement:The most commonly usedtechnique is Microsurgery. Microsurgery is the gold standard around which other technical innovations are based and it is the most common form of brain tumor surgery. The skill of the surgeon is paramount and effectively decides the final outcome for the patient. The other major techniques are Sterotaxy and Endoscopic Brain Tumour Surgery. The different types of technology and techniques can be
used alone or in conjunction with other methods, for example, Endoscope Assisted MicroSurgery (EAMS).

The Transplantation of Human Organs Act-1994 was introduced in 1994 to help in Organ Donation for the needed ones, and also to stop commercial dealings of human organs which includes both Living adn Dead Donors (Cadaver Donors).

According to this act, a person can donate, a doctor can remove and patients can accept those organs as per the law.

Though the act was passed in 1994, the number of cadaver donors are very less.A single BRAIN DEAD person can give life to atleast 9 (nine) different individuals..Around 8 to 10 Brain Dead persons are found in various hospitals at any point of time in major cities like Bangalore.

Around 8 crores people in India need a transplant,whereas only 20 to 30 people out of every million people may become potential donors.From January 1995 till date, hardly 40 hearts from Cadaver Donors in India were transplanted which is abysmally low as compared to the demand.

Organ failure can strike anybody at any time as a result of illness or infection. For most people who experience organ failure, a transplant is their only realistic treatment option. If you die, your organs could help several people through organ transplants and many others through tissue grafts. For e.g. your liver could save the life of someone whose liver has been damaged through illness or accident. A person who is attached to a dialysis machine could return to full-time work after receiving one kidney. Every effort is made to save your life before donation is considered and donation does not disfigure the body.

In Bangalore alone around 2000 patients are with life support of DIALYSIS. All of them need Kidney Transplantation and it is increasing in number. While so far in Karnataka only 10 Cadaver Donations have been taken place.

The Karnataka Olympic Association has organized a Walkathon for Organ Donation on Sunday the 10th May 2009 at 8 a.mThe Flag off from VIDHANA SOUDHA and Ends at SREE KANTEERAVA STADIUM

We encourage everyone including our medical fraternity to Pledge today for Organ Donation and give some a new ray of life... and who knows you too could become a recipient !!

The Pediatric cardiac team at Wockhardt Hospitals has written a new chapter in the history of Pediatric Heart Surgery in India. An 11 month old baby girl from Orissa has become a rare case to be successfully operated for Congenitally Corrected Transposition of Great Arteries (CCTGA) which occurs in less than 1% of children born with heart defects. The Pediatric cardiac team at Wockhardt Hospitals led by Dr. Devananda, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon successfully completed this six hour surgery on the little baby without any complications.

Baby Pinky (name changed) who is the second child in the family was observed to have breathing difficulty in her second month and upon consultation with the local doctors in Orissa they were referred to Bangalore for further consultation and treatment. The family visited a couple of renowned hospitals in Bangalore but the hospitals had no surgical solution to offer and refused to operate upon the child due to the complexity of the case. That is when the child was brought to Wockhardt Hospitals.

The diagnosis by the doctors at Wockhardt Hospitals revealed that the baby was born with ventricular septral defect and straddling tricuspid valve. In this case the pumping chambers (ventricles) are switched along with the great arteries (aorta and pulmonary artery). The baby also had a large hole in between the ventricles and encroaching of one of the valves across the hole. Children born with this kind of defect might also have abnormal electrical conduction system which means they might be highly susceptible to a complete heart block.

Explaining the case Dr. Devananda, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals said, “This is one of the rarest cases we have observed in congenital heart defects where the chambers along with the arteries were in the reversed position. Since it was a complex case we had to perform three cardiac procedures on the baby in one sitting. First we had to do the closure of the VSD (ventricular septal defect) in such a way that the encroachment of the valve should not hamper the blood flow. Secondly, we redirected the pure and impure blood to the respective normal ventricles (atrial switch) and thirdly we switched the great arteries to the respective ventricles (arterial switch).” This complex condition is seen in less than 1% of all children born with heart defects.

The baby can lead a normal life and will not require any further surgical treatment” said Dr Devananda. The treatment was done at a subsidized cost at the hospital and was supported by the Needy Heart Foundation.

Do you know that its not only the radiation from your mobile phone and electronic gadgets which is harmful ,but also your mobile is a carrier of dangerous germs . For most of us hooked to mobile phones the harmless looking Gadgets like our mobile phones and iPods might be something which has became indispensable for our daily needs of communication,however what you did not know that, these gadgets are also the carriers of dangerous bacteria and micro organisms.

In a recent article in Mid-Day about the dangers of Mobile Phones as germ carriers, explains why bacteria formation in mobile phones might cause infection.

A recent British study discovered that mobile devices carry tens of thousands of bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause everything from pimples and boils to pneumonia and meningitis. In another study, an Arizona microbiologist tested 25 random mobile phones and found the staph bug growing on nearly half!”

The easiest option is to maintain thorough hand hygiene and handling your cell phone after washing your hands. "Wash your hands with a soap or use a hand-sanitiser. Ensure that you wipe the cell phone with an alcohol-based solution, using a tissue daily. If you are visiting a hospital or paying a visit to someone who is unwell, there's more likelihood of germs getting transferred. So, avoid carrying your cell phone altogether if you are visiting some patient at a hospital.

Here are some more tips on cleaning your must have gadgets

Wipe down your MP3s using a clean, soft, dry cloth. Don’t use paper towels because you’ll just scratch the screen. If you haven’t cleaned your MP3 for a while, try putting ammonia free glass cleaner on the soft cloth. And don’t forget to wipe down the ear-buds and cords!

Once a week wipe down your cell phone with a dry cloth. If you spill something on it (like coffee, for example) turn the cell phone off, take out the battery and clean it with a cotton swapped dipped (but not dripping!) in isopropyl alcohol. Try to get into all those little crevices. It’s a pain but it’s better than getting a new cell phone.