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The Rediff Special/ Sanjay Vora

The good doctor with an eye for charity

A few days back, Dr Nandkishore Laud got a call from the medical director of the Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai. He and his colleague, Dr Kantlal H Sancheti, were requested to assist Dr Chittranjan Ranawat in the knee replacement surgery to be performed on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Dr Laud has been associated with Dr Ranawat for 40 years now. He is general secretary of the Dr Ranawat Research Foundation which was founded in 1986. Through this foundation, which has its head office in Sancheti, Pune, Dr Ranawat has donated 5,000 kits worth Rs 10 million to poor patients who require knee or hip replacement surgeries but cannot afford it. Since the last 10 years, the Foundation has been sponsoring the training of three Indian surgeons in New York. Dr Ranawat is also involved in helping the Instruments Orthopedic Company to develop qualitative but cheaper joints which poor patients can afford.

Providing an insight into the NRI doctor's background, Dr Laud says, "Dr Ranawat was born in Rajasthan. He is a descendent of Maharana Pratap who was a Sisodia Rajput. His did his education in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He studied at the Holkar College there for two years and later joined the MGM College for his medical degree.

"In 1959, I too joined the same college. Dr Ranawat was four years my senior. Ranawat was a sportsman. He used to play cricket, tennis, golf and squash. We were together in a cricket team. After completing his MS, he wanted to work as a lecturer in a medical college in Indore. But due to the poor job prospects in the city, he left for Bombay."

Dr Ranawat then worked at the Bombay Hospital for a year. He tried his best to get a job as a lecturer in a medical college. But the politics inherent in the medical field forced him to leave India. "He was disillusioned," says Dr Laud. In 1964, Dr Ranawat migrated to Canada and, two years later, he shifted to New York where he started his private practice.

This was where he got the chance he had been waiting for. He began to assist Dr John Charnley, America's topmost orthopedic surgeon at the time. In 1980, when the legendary doctor did the first ever non-cemented hip replacement surgery, Dr Ranawat assisted him. It is from him that Dr Ranawat learnt the total hip replacement technique, which is now his specialty.

"From 1981," says Dr Laud, "Dr Ranawat started coming to India. He wanted to help the poorest of poor patients. So he started teaching his technique to young surgeons here. This was when he observed that, because of the typical Indian lifestyle, problems related to the bones of the knee and the hip are quite common."

Drs Ranawat, Laud and Sancheti have formed a formidable team over the years. They have arranged many seminars in cities like Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore and Jodhpur and have trained 250 surgeons in the total hip replacement method.

Dr Ranawat is actively associated with the Bombay Hospital, the Sancheti Hospital in Pune and the Choithram Hospital in Indore. In 1985, he donated Rs 30 million to these hospitals to set up facilities for knee and hip replacement operations. The artificial knee joint meant for Prime Minister Vajpayee has been designed by Dr Ranawat himself.

EARLIER REPORT:
Reticent Dr Ranawat is a master of his craft

The PM's surgery: The full coverage

The Rediff Specials

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