Thammasat Hospital achieved 200 knee and hip replacement surgery in 150 poor, elderly patients, while promoting its leadership in knee-hip joint replacement surgery with the plan to open “Thammasat Joint Replacement Center” which is considered an accumulation of surgical innovations and the introduction of robotic arm technology to assist in knee replacement surgery for the first time in a government hospital in Thailand. This will improve the accuracy of joint positioning and reduce injuries to surrounding tissues, as well as enhancing the quality of knee replacement surgery to be of international standard. It is expected that the center will be able to open in late June of the year 2022.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nattapon Thammachot, Assistant Director of Physical Development, Thammasat Hospital said that throughout the “Join replacement for poor patients volunteering” reminds us that there are a large number of elderly patients in our country that still lack access to knee and hip replacement. This reflects the demographic structure of the country that is entering an aging society. This project has been initiated since the 85th anniversary of the founding of Thammasat University in 2019. This arose from the ideas of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pharuehas Tor-Udom, Director of the Hospital and Assoc. Prof. Gasinee Witoonchart, Rector of Thammasat University and working closely with the National Health Security Office (NHSO) with the aim of helping patients with knee and hip dysplasia in returning to have a better quality of life, and can assist themselves to live a happier life, and reduce the burden on the family. In addition, this also encourages medical personnel to have the opportunity to use their abilities to support society by joining as volunteers to help perform surgery outside office hours. This project has been ongoing for three years and within the first two years we made 100 replacements per year, but this year we have done 200 replacements in just four months from December 2021 to March 2022.
“Thammasat Joint Replacement Center” is one of the new special services of Thammasat Hospital as a one-stop service in order to provide convenience in receiving services and to focus on the best quality of treatment by a team of doctors who are specialized in patient care throughout the treatment pathway. This is to provide patients with a better treatment experience and receive a new, high-quality, long-lasting knee replacement according to the vision of Hospital 4.0 with modern service systems and innovative pain relief medical treatment, new surgical techniques with higher accuracy, such as the introduction of robotic arm technology to assist in such surgery,” concluded Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nattapon.