For me, patients come first

He was a mischievous child, often ending up with bruises and broken bones — precisely, one of the reasons to opt for orthopaedics. Truly believing in providing hygienic care, Dr. PVA Mohandas, who is a renowned orthopaedic surgeon and currently the Managing Director of MIOT Hospitals, Chennai, has always put his patients first. As a result of which, Dr. Mohandas has gained immense popularity the world over and is today one of the most sought after orthopaedic surgeons, especially among the VIPs — from movie stars
to politicians, Dr. Mohandas has managed to fix their bones!
Having travelled the world over, understanding the working culture of both India and abroad, this septuagenarian very well gauged the demerits of the Indian healthcare industry. According to him, patients then were not given priority, outdated equipments were being used and hygiene was the last thing on the list. Putting patients first thus became the motto of his life, which further helped him to establish the centre of excellence-MIOT.
 Born in a small village of Thirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Mohandas’ inspiration was always his grandfather. He pursued his medical education from Madras Medical College, Chennai and his MCh in Orthopaedics from University of Liverpool. He further undertook a special training in hip joint replacement surgery by Sir John Charnley from the Centre For Hip Surgery, UK and is also trained in knee joint replacement surgery by MAR Freeman from London Hospital, UK. Besides being a renowned surgeon, Dr. Mohandas is known for his lectures on orthopaedics. He has served as a Lecturer in Madras Medical College and Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai and still serves as a faculty member for various international courses like fracture courses by AO International in India, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand; Basic and advanced AO courses on behalf of AO International in India every year; hip/knee joint replacement courses in India, etc. Consequently, he is fondly addressed as ‘Teacher of Teachers’ and ‘Professor of Professors’.
Dr. Mohandas’ presence in the professional bodies has been equally strong. He was the President of the Trauma Section of Association of Surgeons of India. He is currently the Member of Association of Surgeons of India and Indian Orthopaedic Association. He is also the Vice President of Arthroplasty Society of India; Author, Founder
and Secretary of Indo German Orthopaedic Foundation Trust and also the Fellow of German College of Trauma.
This Padma Shri Award recipient was the first ever surgeon to be conferred with the honorary membership of the German Association of Joint Replacement Surgeons, at their 2005 annual congress in Heidelberg, Germany. Though now awards and accolades don’t mean much to this medico, his current aim is growth of MIOT, along with establishing a dedicated hi-end cancer centre.

MM: Why orthopaedics?
Firstly, I opted for medicine because my grandfather inspired me to — he was a doctor by profession. He often dissected frogs and fishes to show me the internal organs. I frequently managed to peep through his surgeries and see him operate on patients. So I grew up understanding medicine, which I concluded was not very difficult — all you need is presence of mind and common sense. Being a playful and mischievous child, I had fractured my bones quite a few times, so the best field I thought would be to heal fractures — thus orthopaedics.

MM: Can you recollect the first surgery you performed? How has been the evolution of orthopaedics since then?
Orthopaedics in the olden days consisted of just pulling the fractured limb and putting a POP cast. It was mainly below/above elbow and knee cast.