Total hip replacement surgery was performed recently for the first time in Sri Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Government General Hospital.
The complicated surgery was performed on B. Mahalakshmi, 62, from Hampi in Hospet taluk of Ballari district in Karnataka, who was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis of the right hip joint. The patient first came for consultation in December and was admitted in mid-January. The surgery was performed on February 13 by S. Sreenivasa Reddy, head of orthopaedics, along with his team members R. Venkat and D. Lakshmi Venkatesh, supported by anaesthesia professor J. Radha.
Ruia had been in the news for the wrong reasons, but the government action initiated last year to improve infrastructure seems to have yielded the desired result. Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Poonam Malakondaiah spent three days at the hospital and saw for herself the woes of the patients arriving from across the Rayalaseema districts, before sanctioning ₹3.5 cr. for its facelift. “The improved infrastructure, including the semi-modular operation theatre built at a cost of ₹50 lakh, has instilled confidence in our surgeons,” said Ruia Superintendent B.S. Naik.
