Without checking the condition of a patient, no one can inform you of how much it will cost to go through a hip or knee replacement. For an accurate opinion, it is the best policy to consult a replacement specialist.
Still, if you are looking for an average estimation of hip replacement surgery costs in India, this is the best post on the subject. Read this article through or skip to the information you would like to know.
What are knee and hip replacements?
A replacement is a procedure where either damaged or worn-out joint parts are chiselled away and the removed surfaces are replaced with the help of implants, or artificial parts, which are made up of metal and plastic.
In the knee replacement procedure, the ends of the thigh bone and shinbone are reshaped, removing the damaged or useless parts, and the entire joint is resurfaced once again. The resurfacing is done with the help of prostheses, which are artificial components.
Furthermore, in a hip replacement surgery, the acetabulum (the socket of your hip joint—a concave cavity) and femoral neck (top of the thigh bone in the shape of a ball) are removed and, using artificial parts like the acetabular cup, polyethylene liner, femoral ball and femoral stem, a new joint is recreated.
Both these forms of arthroplasty require a lot of expertise and precision on the part of the surgeon.
What are the benefits of a replacement?
There are several benefits of a hip or knee replacement. Consider the following:
- You don’t have to tolerate severe pain daily;
- Life becomes totally hip or knee joint pain-free;
- Living an active lifestyle becomes feasible;
- Playing with their grandchildren for an old grandparents becomes possible;
- You can live independently managing to walk, stand, sit and other essential leg movements yourself;
- There are no bouts of morning stiffness that you have to deal with;
- You can plan your mornings in a better way like going for a walk, preparing your breakfast yourself, etc;
- Because now the affected knee or hip joint has been replaced, further damage to the bones and the surrounding area has already been prevented.
All of these little things change your quality of life considerably, impacting your mental health positively.
A replacement isn’t a very costly surgical procedure, but you must have the information about the cost. So, if you want to get it done, make sure you talk about the knee replacement surgery cost in India with your surgeon or concerned medical institution first.
Cost of a replacement on average
Without scheduling an appointment with a doctor, you won’t be able to know specifically how much you might need to pay for a replacement. It doesn’t matter whether you need it for a knee or hip. For personal advice, you will have to first talk to a well-qualified doctor.
However, if you are looking for an average estimation, consider this: a replacement, alone, might cost you somewhere between the range of 2 lakh to 3 lakh. Sometimes, a particular surgeon can also charge you more than 4 lakh for a bilateral procedure.
If you have to pay more, this is mainly because you will be given great care pre-, during and post-replacement. So, don’t compromise on the quality of the treatment for the better health of your joints like the knees and hips.
Factors affecting the cost of hip or knee replacement
There are a lot of factors that affect the cost of a replacement surgery. If you have been recommended for a knee or hip replacement recently and you would like to consider all the contributing things responsible for the entire expenditure during the surgical intervention, read through this section.
The first factor is location. If your treatment is going to be somewhere near your area of residence, you won’t have to spend too much for the replacement. Otherwise, for a far-off location, there are things to make it expensive like travelling, accommodation, food, sanitation, prolonged rehabilitation stay at the hospital, etc.
Furthermore, the expertise, competence, and qualifications of a specialist also add to the bill as good orthopedic surgeons always charge much more than any under-qualified specialists.
You should always make sure that your knee replacement or hip replacement is done by an excellent medical practitioner even if you have to pay a little more for that.
Taking the same logic further, if a particular doctor is very famous and associated with multiple medical institutions, it will add to their reputation, causing the cost to rise further.
The factor of time specificity is crucial as well. If, at a particular time, a replacement specialist is facing high demand, the cost of treatment when operated by this surgeon will go up, and you will have to pay more for your replacement.
A patient who has more than one health complication will require more intensive care pre- and post-surgical intervention, raising your hospital bills.
Many people need longer time at the hospital after the surgery to recover and go back to normal life. Thus, for such human beings, the cost of the hospital stay will be more than otherwise.
A hospital offering a lot of facilities to keep up with the health standards might make a repalcement surgery expensive. So, if you are looking for an affordable option, make sure you first do your research intensively in advance so you might have a good chance of finding pocket-friendly medical facilities that offer replacement surgeries.
Things to consider before a replacement
Medical Evaluation: Make sure your surgeon knows your medical history in advance. It is of crucial importance that your doctor knows what underlying diseases you already have so you don’t have to deal with a lot of complications post-replacement due to unnoticed comorbidity.
Diagnostic Tests: Make sure before suggesting a knee or hip replacement your surgeon has made the most exact diagnosis via appropriate exams like X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs.
Medication Management: If you are taking medicines on a daily basis already, you might need to discontinue them until your replacement is done. It is often recommended to ward off the potentiality of post-surgery problems.
Smoking Cessation: You also need to stop smoking.
Nutrition and Hydration: Make sure you have enough nutrition and drink water up to the recommended quantity. It will help recover from the surgery faster than in the case of lack and deficiency.
Surgical Team & Facility: everyone who is involved in facilitating or assisting your surgery must be a well-qualified and certified professional. This will ensure medical precision.
Implant Selection: Often, in order to save a bit of money, people go for cheap artificial components for either the replacement of their knees or hips. But, you mustn’t do so. Cheap implants don’t have long-lasting life.
Anaesthesia: You must also ask your surgeon about the form of anaesthesia they are going to use before performing an arthroplasty for your knee or hip resurfacing.
Conclusion
In this post, we have generally touched upon a lot of things that were important to be discussed under the heading of the cost of a replacement surgery in India.
You must have got a general idea out of the post even though medical advice is inevitable for a personalised explanation of the replacement cost in your case!
