Surgeon Anchal Kumar examines Raeeda Khatoon. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, June 29: Help is at hand for arthritis patients in Jharkhand. They need not rush to hospitals outside the state for advance treatment.

The Seventh Day Adventist Mission Hospital is performing complicated bone surgeries for a mere Rs 35,000 against the prevailing market rate of Rs 1 lakh.

For the first time in the medical history of Jharkhand, a 35-year-old woman’s left hip was successfully implanted on June 23 at the hospital. Her right hip will be operated upon on Wednesday.

The patient, Raeeda Khatoon, is a mother of four. Her husband is a manual labourer. She lives in a slum near Patthalkudua Chowk under Lower Bazar area. She was unable to move on her own for the past six months. But, now she can move with the help of a walker. “She was brought to the hospital on a wheel chair. But now, she can move around. Since she is extremely poor, her treatment is being funded from the charity pool. The total expense will add up to Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000, whereas in other big hospitals, it would have exceeded Rs 1 lakh,” said operating orthopaedic surgeon Anchal Kumar.

Surgical equipment manufacturing company INOR has donated implants to Raeeda. The SDA Mission Hospital has extended all services free of cost. Several voluntary organisations have also come forward to help her. “To me, they are all living gods. I don’t know from where the money is coming for my daughter’s treatment. I lost all hope. They have given her a new life,” said 70-year-old Shakina Khatoon, her mother. Hospital sources said the doctor, Anchal Kumar, has received his orthopaedic training at KEM Hospital in Mumbai under the guidance of eminent surgeons. He has worked in several leading hospitals of Mumbai and was part of the Gujarat earthquake relief team and the Mumbai disaster management team.

He also bagged the Pandurang Award for the best orthopaedic surgeon during the training period. “Our aim is to make it a multi-speciality hospital dealing in all kind of cases. Poor patients do not have to rush to metropolitan cities. Future projects include a new operation theatre complete with an intensive care unit. The hospital will provide a special economical package for joint replacement surgery and different types of gynaecological, orthopaedic and general surgeries,” said medical director Elvin J. Vedamony.