Second medical advice: Soon all hospitals may have to share data on elective joint surgery with the health department

As the prevalence of arthritis increases, age-related arthritis degeneration and injury, joint replacement surgery is increasing. |Picture source: Getty Images/Istockphoto

Soon all hospitals in Karnataka may have to send data on elective joint surgery to the health department, which is before the surgery date. After a poor response to the second opinion helpline for the state’s second opinion combined surgery last November 19, the department is now planning to contact patients and provide a second opinion to help avoid unnecessary surgery.

Since its launch, the dedicated second opinion helpline (18004258330) has received 99 calls. The Nodal agency implemented Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-yojana-Chief’s Arogya karnataka (ARK of AB-PMJay-CM), establishing social advice that seeks help from each citizen.

More and more prevalence

Due to the increasing prevalence of arthritis, age-related arthritis degeneration and injury, such as total knee replacement (TKR) and total hip replacement (THR), are increasing. However, not all patients with articulation problems may require surgery, and some patients can manage the condition conservatively.

Chief Secretary (Health) Harsh Gupta said that in this case, patients often face difficulties and challenges in deciding on the best treatment/surgery. He said the helpline has been established to help such patients make informed decisions by getting free second opinions on complex election combined surgery from government experts.

“As the response to hole needs so far has not been great, we are asking all hospitals registered under Karnataka Private Medical Institution (KPME) to share details of patients planning to perform joint surgery in advance. With joint questions, if there are any options to prevent surgery, we are working to introduce such a system,” he said. Hindu.

20 callers seek second opinion

Of the 99 calls received so far, only 20 callers have shared the files of the expert’s second opinion, according to SAST. However, experts can only review 17 of these 20 patients, because the rest did not share the complete and correct documents.

“The helpline aims to provide evidence-based guidance to a group of experts for patients with knee and hip problems and guide them to make mature decisions about the best available treatment options. However, 79 out of 99 callers were called “callers seeking joint problems” rather than a second opinion for the surgery, diluting officials,” the officials said. ”

Looking at the phone calls to the hotline area, we found that 30 of the 99 callers were from Bangalore, followed by 8 from Kalaburgi and 6 from Dakshina Kannada.

7% Recommended No surgery required

Among the 319 online referrals under the AB-PMJAY-CM ark for total hip replacement and total knee replacement surgery, the Expert Committee found that 21 patients (7%) did not require surgery and five alternatives were recommended. The committee found that in these cases, arthritis (OA) did not change.

Before the launch of the second opinion helpline on November 19, an online recommendation system under the government’s health plan was introduced for joint surgery on October 29 last year. Officials said the 319 referrals received have been since then until April 11.