Healing sports injuries with a soft touch

By Michael Wesonga

Surgeon George John is famous and rich. But he is also a humble and generous man. His generosity has extended to Kenya’s Eldoret town, the home of athletics.

The Indian orthopedic surgeon has marked Eldoret as a favourite stopover for a philanthropic cause.

Dr George John (centre) with the hospital’s Dr John Kibosia (left). He is helping the hospital establish a facility to operate on sports-related injuries [Photo:Standard]

John, the managing partner and director at the International Modern Hospital in Dubai, is aiding the establishment of a sports medicine unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

The surgeon is presently mentoring his Kenyan counterparts in his arthroscopic surgery specialty and offering clinical services at the facility.

keyhole surgery

The operation is a type of keyhole surgery used to diagnose joints problems and also repair damage to joints mostly relating to sports injuries.

In Africa, it is only done in South Africa.

The procedure is mostly used for knees, wrists, elbows, ankles and shoulders and can also repair damaged cartilage, remove fragments of loose bone or cartilage and treat a broken shoulder.

"We are working with the hospital in a plan that will establish and develop this unit into a special modern sports medicine centre of excellence in Africa," John told The Standard in an interview recently.

Dr John is easily described as a celebrity surgeon.

Besides treating Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney’s fractured limb before the 2010 World Cup, he has handled international sports and showbiz icons such as Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Rodger Federer, Tom Cruise and the South African cricket team, among others.

While in the country last month, he carried out, free of charge, the costly operations using specialised computerised equipment on patients with sustained sports injuries and people with other related problems.

"This facility will be such a blessing to the country’s sports personalities who incur huge expenses as they seek specialised treatment in Europe or South Africa. Those unlikely to meet even the travelling expenses will be grateful that the facility is here," John stated.

15-minute surgeries

While in the country, he carried out operations at the referral hospital and nearby Medi-Heal Hospital. He operated at least eight patients a day. Each operation lasted approximately 15 minutes.

He has promised two monthly visits to the facility despite operating a busy schedule across the globe. He expects to handle an estimated 100 patients during the visits.

"Unlike other surgeries, arthroscopy heals and the sporting personalities can resume duty within no time. But it is also very expensive," he said.

The patients can run or jump a few hours after the surgical procedure performed by an arthroscopic tower machine.

Because of the nature of sports, most sports people are always under a lot of pressure to perform despite injuries. So this surgery will assist them, in a way, to ensure there is no break in their career.

To treat these personalities, John maintains professionalism as they take time to open up, he says, so he ensures there is a rapport between him and the personality first.

lucrative

Most sports people have expansive health covers running up to millions of shillings.

And John is happy to have specialised in this kind of surgery because it is "lucrative career," he says.

A simple arthroscopic surgery costs Sh581,000 and that is exclusive of consultation fee. The surgeon says the demand for sports surgery has equally and rapidly increased all over the world and with commitment, Kenya would catapult to a sports surgery hub in Africa.

Despite international acclaim in athletics, Kenya has not been performing as well in the women’s volleyball, cricket and rugby. Usually, injury of players is listed as one of the reasons for poor performance.

Moi Referral’s Dr John Kibosia, who scouted for John, is confident the unit will be fully operational in a year’s time.

John has promised to acquire the right equipment.

surgeon and sportsman

He is an athlete and understands well the stress sports people go through when unable to perform due to injury.

That is one of the things that motivated him to train for sports medicine at Queens Medical Centre, University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

Since he started his career, he has performed more than 1,000 arthroscopy surgeries and more than 500 hundred arthroscopy reconstruction surgeries around the world.

He won the prestigious Nottingham University Fellowship and he joined his team to treat sports people of several national and county sports teams all over the United Kingdom.