THE Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is now offering knee and hip- replacement surgeries free of cost.

This was according to Chief Executive Officer of the GPHC, Robbie Rambarran, during a press briefing on Thursday.
According to Rambarran, several discussions were held and the board of the hospital gave approval for the hospital to offer these services for free.
“We came up with a proposal, took it to the board, had several discussions and the board has now approved for us now to offer knee and hip replacement and revision free of cost,” he said.

Against this backdrop, he revealed that there are currently around 30 persons who need revision surgery for their knees or hip replacements, but previously there was no system in place and as such new prostheses and supplies would have to be procured.

With all the deliberations, they thought it best to go with the decision that was made for these operations to be free.
“It is many times difficult for the patients to find that money and we talked about it and those fees were removed,” he said.

Previously, patients would have had to pay some $200,000 to have the knee- or hip-replacement surgery done.
This sum, he said, was a burden to many, especially the elderly to have that surgical intervention, and added that while these replacement joints have a lifespan, they would need revision operations.