Bangalore/New Delhi: Satyanarayan Rao Gaekwad, 79, elder brother of Rajnikant, super star down South, has his knees replaced but the good news is that actor’s own knees are fit and fine. Dr Kiran Chouka, eminent Joint Replacement Surgeon at Manipal Columbia Asia Hospital Bangalore, is sanguine about the future of actor’s knee joints. Dr Chouka feels chosen because ‘god of south’ picked him up for his brother’s surgery.
To a question by Medicare News about condition of Rajnikant’s own knees, Dr Chouka said, ‘I have seen Rajnikant’s knees and evaluated them. They are perfect and supple. He is lean and super fit. He might never need knee replacement. His brother became obese due to bad knees.’
Dr Chouka, Senior Consultant Orthopaedics & Joint Replacement Surgeon, Columbia Asia Referral Hospitals Yeswanthpur, Bangalore (a unit of Manipal) is barely 37 but is already being counted among top notch orthopaedic surgeons in India and is first choice of high-profile patients. His clientele includes MPs, MLAs, Actors, Actresses and other big guns. His deft hand at joint surgery has won him wide acclaim. Having nearly 99 percent success rate, Dr Chouka is being viewed among his fellow and peer surgeons a cut above the rest. He is also meticulous in robotic surgeries. He has made his reputation in Sport’s Medicine as well.
There is a poignant history behind Dr Chouka choosing joint replacement surgery as his craft. Whenever he replaces an old man’s knees, it brings back to him memories of pain and trauma from his own family, thanks to bad knees of his grandfather (his mother’s dad). And when he sees his patient walking again sans pain, he feels his grandfather is born again. Dr Chouka says, ‘my grandfather, 83, was through such excruciating pain due to bad knees that he stopped eating so that death could come and ease his pain. I made up my mind that a joint surgeon I would be. I think orthopaedic surgeons are doing god’s work by easing pains of seniors.’ He has also replaced his mother’s knees.
The Chouka’s joint surgery figures are quite impressive given his age. He claims to have performed 3000 plus joint surgeries out of which most procedures are knee replacements. He underwent extensive training for joint replacement. He trained himself for one year under South Asia fame Dr Guruva Reddy of Hyderabad, under Dr Suryanarayan Pichai and Dr Vijai Bose of Chennai. Besides, he also got advanced training in UK, Italy and Space.
Dr Chouka said, ‘long tern training in joint surgeries is a must and very crucial for success of the surgery. It is a very sad and worrisome fact that many a surgeon claims to be joint replacement surgeons after only a couple of days of training. Such surgeons bring disrepute to a very useful knee replacement surgery. A legislation needs to be brought to regulate knee procedures.’
PM Atal Bihar Vajpayee’s failed knee replacement surgery still haunts people suffering from knee pain. People express apprehensions about the success of knee transplant and lot many people are being prisoners in rooms due to bad knees. On this, Dr Chouka said, ‘at the hands of highly trained surgeons the success rate is close to 98% while my own is nearly 99 percent. Many new advancements have greatly improved knee replacement surgeries.’ Dr Chouka had been Chief Orthopaedic & Joint Replacement Surgeon at the Apollo Hospitals and Fortis Hospitals (Bangalore) before joining Columbia Asia.
Dr Chouka is a specialist in complex and computers navigated joint replacement surgeries and are specialized in handling arthroscopy and sports medicine with 12 years of experience in working at premier centres for arthroscopy, Arthroplasty and complex trauma. He has expertise in minimally invasive, computed navigated knee replacement, unicompartmental Knee replacement. He has special interest for failed knee and hip replacements. He also has wide expertise in arthroscopy and sports medicine which includes multiligament reconstruction, meniscal repairs, surgery for recurrent shoulder dislocations, rotator cuff repairs.
