It was a shock to find out 3 months ago that I had frank moderate OA. My life seemed to be coming to an abrupt halt with the prospect of not being able to do many of the things that make life worthwhile. The Australian sports physician that I saw suggested a THR within about 5 years with severely curtailed activity until then followed by basically walking around but not much more. I sought a second opinion…an Orthopaedic surgeon who suggested BHR (December 8th 2006). I went home…got onto the WWW and the rest is history. I contacted Dr Balasubramanian on the same day via email and received a reply the very next day. Within 11 days I was winging my way over to India.

You will have by now read some other testimonials regarding Dr. G. G. Balasubramanian and the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing procedure. I will not waste your time by repeating the other testimonials. Suffice to say the entire procedure went very well. From the moment I was met at the local airport to my discharge I was extremely satisfied with the level of dedication and professionalism exhibited by the whole team.

The anaesthetist obviously performed his critical duties faultlessly. I didn’t feel a thing throughout the operation and woke up refreshed and alert. A real credit to him as my BP was quite high due to the long trip and fatigue. I felt very safe under his care….after all it’s the anaesthetist who is ultimately responsible for the well being of the patient. Dr. GBS many thanks! A really top job.

Dr. Bala performed the operation under some difficulty due to my apparently still well muscled hip area (that was due to my still trying to maintain regular Judo training and cycling to work in spite of the pain over the past 4 months) made it more difficult than usual to get into the hip itself. In addition the femoral head had become ovular in shape due to wear caused by Judo training for over 32 years which made fitting the femoral shell component a bit of a challenge. I was very happy that I had a chap who’d done over 350 of these procedures doing this, as a less experienced surgeon may have decided to revert to a THR. Surgery is all about practise…and Dr Bala has got heaps. He’s also cutting around a 10cm incision now….which makes for less discomfort, less chance of infection…and all round a more elegant job.

The nursing staff were truly remarkable with special thanks to Senior Sisters Viola and Virgit. Also Sisters Ishvari, Nirsi Silvi, Megala and Nursing Assistant Gaitri. All of whom treated me so, so well…words cannot describe. Many, many thanks.

The nursing is done the old fashioned way with routine BP’s done with a mercury column sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. Still the most accurate way in my humble opinion (I was a hospital medical electronics engineer for the first half of my career).

The Physios did their bit…basically helping with a few basic exercises and making sure that everything seemed to be working ok.

The facilities are kept clean and are sufficient. There is a TV with about a million channels which you may eventually get to know your way around to some degree.

If you fall into the category of person that might benefit from an ASR/BHR and need a quick cost effective solution I have no hesitation in suggesting that you should explore the possibility of having it performed at the Sri Ramakrishna Hospital in Coimbatore.

My email address is: dindyk@energy.com.au should you wish to contact me. I’d be very happy to discuss my experience with you on a more personal level.

Daniel Indyk
Coimbatore
27/12/06