India’s 1st Sikh Army Chief, Joginder Jaswant Singh, is making headlines after heading to the operating theater with his wife for a medical procedure. This move, although romantic, surprised senior orthopedic surgeon Dr. Rajeev Sharma. A doctor at Delhi’s Moolchand Hospital was stunned to learn the identity of a couple who entered his OPD together for knee replacement surgery.
Joginder Jaswant Singh, married to artist Anupama Singh (in her mid-70s), decided to make the medical procedure an everlasting memory. The retired chief commonly known as General JJ Singh, 80, who commanded troops in the most volatile zones, decided to operate alone and left the surgeon in disbelief after a unique request.
“I have never seen anything like this,” Hindustan Times quoted Dr. Rajeev Sharma. The general, who led the Indian army from 2005 to 2007 and later served as governor of Arunachal Pradesh for five years, made an emergency request for the same surgery on the same day as his wife and from the same surgeon.
The surgeon, who was left speechless for a moment, said, “At first I didn’t even know he was a former army chief. They came to the OPD as normal patients – modest, unassuming. I only found out when my assistant, who was in touch with theirs, mentioned it,” the news outlet reported.
Recalling the time he suggested surgery for both his patients, Dr Rajeev Sharma said, “When I suggested at the OPD that both of them needed knee replacement, they said they wanted to do the surgery side by side, on the same day.”
General JJ Singh Says “They Were Forced To Be Together”
After the medical procedure, General JJ Singh told HT, “We had to do it, so we thought, why not just do it together?” Although many called it “sweet, cute and romantic”, but to him it simply meant that they were “forced to be together”. Describing the experience, he said we kept exchanging “it hurts here…it hurts there”.
His wife commented: “We did all our exercises together. It’s better that way because otherwise it gets boring. We even watched a few YouTube videos together on recovery exercises.”
Because they both underwent surgery on different sides, so when they “started to walk after the surgery, both knees came together,” the general added.
What is knee replacement surgery?
Knee replacement surgery, also called knee arthroplasty, is a surgical procedure that is performed to replace a damaged knee joint. An artificial knee joint made of metal and plastic is inserted in its place.
When does a person need knee replacement surgery?
This surgery is done to relieve pain and disability. For those affected by medical conditions such as severe arthritis or injuries, this surgery is recommended, especially if non-surgical treatments have failed. Depending on the extent of damage, there are two main types, total knee replacement (TKR) and partial knee replacement (PKR).
