The Prime Minister has praised the effort of AIIMS Bhubaneswar doctors for doing the first-ever quadruple joint replacement surgery on a crippled patient in Odisha.

"Compliments to our doctors for always being at the forefront of innovation and embracing new changes in the medical world. Their dexterity makes us proud!" the PM said in a tweet on Feb 13.

Earlier, the Union Health Minister and the Union Education Minister also appreciated the medical institute for successfully conducting the rare surgery.

AIIMS Bhubaneswar executive director expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister, the Union Health Minister and the Union Education Minister for their inspiring words.

The surgery was conducted on a 37-year-old female patient from the Aul block of Kendrapara district. She was admitted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar with severely painful arthritic knee and hip joints on both sides.

She was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and was on numerous medications. Unfortunately, she was crippled because of severe arthritic involvements of the hips and knees, AIIMS officials said.

There were no movements in the hip joints and she had very little movement in both knees. She needed replacement surgeries on all four joints. The patient was evaluated by a team of doctors and planned for surgeries of both the hip and knee joints in one setting, they said.

Four joint replacements in one setting incur numerous challenges to the patient and surgeon. The replacements of the hips were performed first followed by the knees. The surgery was completed in three hours.

The patient was managed in ICU for two days and adequate pain relief was provided. She started walking on the third day and was happy with the outcomes. The cost of the implants and surgery was provided by the state government through Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY).

This is the second case to be reported globally and the first of its kind in Odisha where all four joints were replaced in one setting. Previously only one such case has been reported from AIIMS Delhi in which an Odia patient was operated on with all four joints replaced in one setting.