I’ve always been sure of what I wanted

Dr Vikram Shah, who founded Shalby Hospital, now a knee surgery which draws large number of patients from world-over spoke to DNA about what went into making him a super specialist in knee surgeries:

How did you get into superspecialisation of knee replacement?
There is no superspecialisation for joint replacement which trains one  specifically for it. But I was interested in it from the beginning - because no one was interested in it and also because of a personal reason. My grandmother had arthritis and she was in bed for 20 years and she had trouble walking upto the bathroom. She had the problem from 1972. I operated the first patient on 31st October 1994 at the Civil Hospital. That very day she died in the early morning. I had told her on the previous day that I am going to operate the first knee tomorrow. She was old - 94 years, so no point in operating upon her. I went to the crematorium first and then went for the surgery!

How are you drawing so many NRIs and foreign patients?
They have always been coming here always. But 10 years back they came for something else and got some medical treatment. But now they are coming electively for surgeries and treatment here and plan other things around it. There are not just NRIs but all kinds. Recently, the vice-president of Uganda came to us for surgery.

Was it difficult to break the ground?
Yes, initially everything is difficult. Initially, even your own relatives would not come. By now all the orthopaedic surgeons world over know about me and my work. So any VIP goes to their doctor and ask them for the top surgeons then they refer them to me as I have performed over 15,000 surgeries. I go worldwide for operations and also to colleges. I have operated in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Did you have a clear vision about what you are pursuing?
I had a very clear vision from day 1. I was never confused about anything. When we went to London I told my wife we will come back. It was in 1989-90. We were well established and we could have stayed back, but I was very clear that we were coming back. If you know the need of the society, you know what is going to come next.
I can confidently speak about the next big thing and that's why we are developing stem-cell therapies and so on. Though some people choose to neglect the growing need of the society, I Persevered. My teacher Dr Dinubhai Patel, who has taught many a surgeons — told me that the famous Mayo Clinic was established at Rochester — far away from New York about a century back. People came all the way to their hospital - if you are top notch people will come all the way…
Is the knee problem India specific?
It's a problem world over but is very common in South Asia. It's because of osteoporosis, poor quality of bones, habits. I have operated upon patients of all races and found African bones to be the strongest. If I have to operate upon Africans I can't perform so many surgeries. Indian bones are poorest.