MUZAFFARGARH: Surgeons at the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital, Muzaffargarh, in collaboration with their four visiting American colleagues, conducted 49 spine and knee replacement surgeries successfully at the healthcare facility free of cost within the last two weeks.

Of total 49 operations conducted jointly by the local and American surgeons, 26 were knee replacement procedures, 15 spine surgeries and eight sports-related surgeries, mostly benefiting the poor patients from remote areas, who otherwise could not afford this expensive treatment.

Bakhtawar Shafi, one of the patients who underwent spine free surgery at the hospital, told Dawn that she had been suffering from spine pain and getting treatment at different public and private hospitals.She says that doctors had told her that the only permanent solution to her issue was spine surgery, but because of she could not afford such an expensive treatment because of financial constraints.

However, due to the patient-friendly initiative taken by the the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital, she will now be able to lead a normal life.

Another patient, Amjad Mukhtar, had been suffering from severe back pain for years, but could not afford the expensive treatment. However, now he had undergone free surgery at the Erdogan hospital and was recovering fast.

Similarly, Halimah, who is from a remote area and was suffering from excruciating knee pain, says she had become hopeless as the replacement procedure’s cost was beyond her reach. However, the free of cost surgery proved a boon for her.

The visiting American surgeons also expressed great satisfaction over the successful surgical initiative taken in collaboration with Erdogan hospital.

They resolved to continue the cooperation with the local facility in the future to provide relief to the poor patients beloging to the far-flung area.

Dr Gohar Nawaz Khan, Head of the Orthopedic Department at Erdogan hospital, thanked the American surgeons and hoped they would continue cooperation to ensure that a maximum number of patients got benefit from the initiative.

He also appreciated different departments of the hospital, includinghousekeeping, maintenance, supply chain, biomedical, IT, general store, finance, operating theatre teams and CRD for their collective contribution to the people-friendly initiative.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2024