Wheelchair-bound woman walks again, thanks to doctor

AURANGABAD: Linda Ali did not know that the old adage doctor is next to God will end up defining a very important part of her life. “I have understood and experienced the actual meaning of the quote in the past few months,” Ali said.
The 38-year-old woman from Yemen could not stop thanking the team of doctors from MGM College and Hospital here for making her walk again. Ali was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, which damaged her hip joints and both the knee joints, leaving her confined to the wheelchair for more than three years.
Ali was operated upon for four major joint replacement surgeries within a span of few months.
After undergoing a rigorous regime of physiotherapy and other post-operative care, Ali has started to walk again and her joy knows no bounds. “I am a free bird again, thanks to the almighty and the team of doctors at MGM,” said a joyous Ali.
Her doctor, Girish Gadekar, who is the head of the joint replacement centre at MGM Hospital, described Ali as an iron lady. “She is an iron lady in the truest sense. The surgery that she underwent is considered difficult,” he said.
The Yemenite, who had to quit her telecom sector job due to the ailment, needed surgeries in both her hip joints and knee joints to be able to stand up on her feet again.
“It was a difficult operation as it involved four major joint replacement surgeries and rheumatoid arthritis causes the bones to become brittle, thereby leading to weakness of muscles. It also increases the chances of contracting infection and a delay in the recovery process,” Gadekar said.
“After thorough evaluation, a team of doctors at MGM decided to operate upon her in three stages. In the first two stages her hip joints were replaced around four and a half months ago, followed by replacement of knees around one and half month ago. Ali needed special type of joints, considering the damage incurred by her body,” the MGM authorities said.
As Ali has recovered well and is able to walk comfortably, doctors describe the medical feat as one of the milestones achieved by the hospital.
“Patients from western Asia and other parts of the country have been choosing Aurangabad for important surgeries. The availability of expertise and relatively lower cost of surgeries are some of the key reasons behind this,” Gadekar said.
Ali’s nephew Mohammed Shauqi, who is pursuing PhD at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, said that he chose the city as his mother had also undergone a knee replacement here in the past.
“We were satisfied with the efforts undertaken by the doctors while treating my mother and therefore decided to go ahead with Aurangabad,” he said.
The doctors’ team consisted of Gajanan Kathar, Sanhita Kulkarni, Vasanti Kelkar, C B Joseph, Sudhir Kulkarni, Rahul Chaudhari and Gadekar, under the guidance of hospital CEO Pravin Suryavanshi.