Welcare Hospital is a state-of-the–art multispeciality Orthopedic hospital located in Vadodara(Baroda), the cultural capital of the state of Gujarat, India.

It started as a small establishment in 1999 and over the years, with the broad vision and ambition of Dr Bharat Mody, the Director and Chief Surgeon, it has flourished into a full-fledged orthopaedic hospital focusing on Bone and Joint problems, with facilities to provide high quality and world-class treatment .

Situated at Race Course Circle, a prime location in Vadodara, Welcare Hospital is easy to access. The distance of this hospital is about 2.5 kms from railway station, 3 kms from G.S.R.T.C. bus station and 5 kms from the airport.

The Reception desk	Consulting Chamber

What makes the Centre for Knee & Hip Surgery at Welcare Hospital stand out from other orthopedic clinics?

What was the main reason to choose Vadodara, comparatively a small - sized city, to set up such a clinic ?

What attracts foreign patients to seek medical services at Welcare ?

Are you able to add to original research and development in your field ?

Is the surgeon's experience more important then technology ?

In recent times, there have been advertisements by some doctors claiming guaranteed success in joint replacement surgery with the use of computer machines. What are the facts in this issue ?

The longterm survival of the artificial joint is a key issue in knee replacement surgery. What are the factors which affect this outcome ?

Do you offer services for patients having Insurance etc ?

What makes the Centre for Knee & Hip Surgery at Welcare Hospital stand out from other Orthopedic clinics?

The Centre for Knee & Hip Surgery at Welcare is probably the only unit in India, which addresses the entire range of knee-related problems and offers patients need-based solutions. It has the complete range of treatment facilities for knee & Hip problems starting from non-operative solutions to the minimally invasive arthroscopic surgical technique extending upto complex procedures like knee and hip replacement surgery and Revision knee & hip replacement surgery.

This clinic is perhaps the only one of its kind in the entire country to focus just on the knee and hip joint. The benefits of having such a clinic are plenty. Some of them are :-

Under a single roof, a comprehensive range of state-of-the-art infrastructure is available for anything and everything to do with knee and hip related problems. The Centre is able to invest in the best and the latest possible electronic instrumentation systems for knee & hip surgery which are available in the world, as it just focuses on these joints.

At the manpower level, our nursing staff, physiotherapists, and all other concerned people acquire an extremely high level of competence because of repetitive work of the same nature.

What was the main reason to choose Vadodara, comparatively a small - sized city, to set up such a clinic ?

The primary reason is that Dr. Mody wanted to come back to his homeland from abroad. The perceived disadvantage in terms of having a smaller population size to develop our business did not affect either our business or credibility. Fortunately, we have been able to give our patients the dual advantage of dealing with a peaceful and easily commutable city like Vadodara, with high quality treatment options and surgical skills

What attracts foreign patients to seek medical services at Welcare Hospital ?

The Welcare Hospital has established itself as a prime centre for medical or health tourism in India. We have patients coming from U.K., U.S.A., Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, Panama Canal, Mauritius, Fiji Islands & the Middle East countries. These patients include foreigners and not just Non Resident Indians.

Due to outstanding quality of work provided by the Centre, patients from far away places choose to travel to Baroda Thirty five percent of our patients come from abroad. They find the culture to be very lovable and also the cost of hotel accommodation is low. Baroda is a very easy city to move around unlike large metropolitan cities like Bombay , Delhi, Chennai , Ahmedabad , etc.

It is not just the lower cost but a perception of reasonable cost for a very high level of medical expertise. We receive patients who are covered by international insurance companies like BUPA . Their health coverage is in hundreds of thousands of sterling pounds. They can easily choose and afford health care facilities in western countries but they still choose to come here.

Mrs. Wendy Kherlopian of South Africa in hospital with Dr. Bharat Mody for her knee replacement surgery

Mrs. Belinda De'Souza traveled to get her extreme deformities of the knees corrected by Dr. Mody.

Mr. David Cork of Canada got his knee replacement surgery done at Welcare Hospital

Mr. J Fielden, from Australia got his knee surgery done at Welcare Hospital.

Are you able to add to original research and development in your field ?

Most of the medical research is done in western countries and we just end up performing the procedures that have been evolved there. However , there are situations which are peculiar to our populace e.g. the desire of an average Indian to be able to achieve postures of deep flexion of the knee (e.g. cross legged sitting), after surgeries like total knee replacement. Because of our ground culture it is important for patients to have the ability to bend their knees freely.

It was this realization that made us develop this surgical technique. It has now been successfully performed in more than 10000 patients operated at our Welcare Hospital". Our centre has developed unique surgical techniques which allow our patients to sit cross-legged after their surgery and also allow Muslim patients to perform the sacred Namaz.

This technique has been presented at various international seminars and we have received a high level of accolades and praise.

Is the surgeon's experience more important then technology ?

The knee joint is made up of bones as well as various types of ligaments and other soft tissues joining these bones. When the knee joint becomes deformed with arthritis, these soft tissues end up being shortened or lengthened. To achieve a high quality result for the patient, the surgeon should have knowledge, experience and surgical ability to rebalance this soft tissue to perfection.

No computer can help with this part of the operation. The surgical procedure depends upon the surgeon's sense of judgment about what is perfect for a particular patient on whom he is operating. This judgment value can't be replicated with mere technology.

In recent times, there have been advertisements by some doctors claiming guaranteed success in joint replacement surgery with the use of computer machines. What are the facts in this issue ?

A machine or instrument in a surgical procedure is only as good as the surgeon using it. For example, even a Mercedes Benz will get involved in an accident if driven by an inexperienced driver. In all critical areas of human activity like flying planes, racing cars, etc it has been obvious that you cannot replace the value of human judgement with a machine which has no common sense.

Certainly, it would be foolish and irresponsible to suggest that out of the hundreds of instruments required for a complex surgery like knee replacement, just by acquiring one additional instrument, one can guarantee a 100% success rate. If this was possible, all hospitals of countries like USA, UK, Germany, etc would replace or install this machine as a routine part of their infrastructure.

The fact is, less than 1% of the hospitals in the richest of societies are using this machine. The main reason for this is that it is in an experimental stage and it is yet to be proven that it adds any value for the patient. More importantly, it might indeed create errors by misleading an inexperienced surgeon.

Another example which conveys the essence of this issue, is the passing fashion in the field of astrology which we saw in our society a few years back. The term "computerized horoscope" had become very popular some years back. It was claimed or suggested that computerized horoscope would give accurate prediction of future events.

One does not require more than common sense to grasp the fact that true interpretation of your star configuration will depend upon in-depth knowledge about this subject by the astrologer. It was seen that only relatively inexperienced astrologers had to use this gimmick to market their service. Not a single acknowledged pundit felt the need to use a superficial marketing ploy like this to invite customers for their services.

The longterm survival of the artificial joint is a key issue in knee replacement surgery. What are the factors which affect this outcome ?

The long term survival and success following knee replacement surgery is dependent on a great number of factors and not on just one single issue :

a) This major surgery is NOT a one man act. The efficiency with which the whole event is handled in a repetitive manner depends upon how good a team you have been able to develop at your hospital. This requires a leader to have more abilities than just being a good surgeon. He has to be a good leader, good motivator, a person with long term vision, a good administrator etc. The patient is the beneficiary of a high level of success only when the surgeon has a good team to back him up.

b) One needs to invest in multiple layers of equipment, for example, high quality of bone cutting instruments. A good hospital should have at least three sets of instruments. Just like any other machinery a piece of equipment can stop functioning in the middle of the operation. In such a scenario, both the surgeon and the patient would be in deep trouble unless the hospital has invested in back up systems. The true strength of the hospital should be measured by an analysis of this type of issues rather than making a marketing gimmick by using the fashionable word "computer".

Do you offer services for patients having Insurance and company patients ?

The obligation towards patients does not end with surgery but is extended to the office section also. Welcare Hospital owes it success not only to its medical staff but also its large administrative staff. From attending patient's calls, giving appointment, preparing patients' discharge and billing, the administrative staff is at service, to help patients with their documents, relating to their insurance claim, cashless facilities, etc.