VMMC physicians confirm Estrada’s knee ailment

Two radiologists of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) have confirmed that jailed former President Joseph Estrada is not faking illness and really suffers from osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that has severely damaged both his knees.

But a local orthopedic surgeon disputed claims that Estrada needs to go to the United States for surgical treatment of his illness since the Philippines is well-equipped and Filipino surgeons are well-skilled in "routine" total knee replacement surgery.

Testifying before the Sandiganbayan special division trying the corruption charges against Estrada, local physicians Dorita Evangelista and Fernando Torres said the former president’s x-rays clearly show that he is suffering from osteoarthritis.

Evangelista, an alumna of the Albert Einstein Institute of California and an examiner of the Professional Regulation Commission, said osteoarthritis was evident in Estrada’s x-rays because it showed that the bone ends connecting his knees to be very small, suggesting that the cartilage has already been worn out by the disease.

Evangelista said that both Estrada’s knees were afflicted with osteoarthritis, a progressive disease that could worsen if left untreated, with the right knee in a much more deteriorated state than the other.

Torres, for his part, said he was certain the radiographs on which Evangelista based her diagnosis were Estrada’s because he took the x-rays himself and personally gave them to Evangelista.

At least three separate medical checkups, conducted by Estrada’s US-based orthopedic surgeon Christopher Mow, Estrada family doctor Lorenzo Jhocson and government-designated Rodolfo Soto, indicate that Estrada’s osteoarthritis is also causing his deteriorating health condition.

Mow and Jhocson have both recommended arthroscopic surgery as the only treatment available for Estrada’s illness while Soto noted that aside from his knee condition, he is also suffering from lung, gall bladder and heart ailments.

In a sworn affidavit, local orthopedic surgeon Ramon Gustilo agreed that Estrada is indeed suffering from osteoarthritis.

Evangelista and Torres testified before the Sandiganbayan during a hearing on Estrada’s petition to be allowed to undergo total knee replacement to be performed by Mow and four months to undergo recuperative and rehabilitative therapy.

But another orthopedic surgeon, Jose Pujalte, said there are 386 registered orthopedic surgeons in the country who can all perform a joint replacement.

"The operations are done here routinely," Pujalte said in a weekly news forum, offering to perform the surgery on the former president free of charge.

"I could do the surgery on the former president. I would even do it for free," Pujalte said, stressing that local orthopedic surgeons are not dumb and are perfectly capable of doing the surgery.

Pujalte confirmed that osteoarthritis is indeed a degenerative disease and would cause constant and severe pain to the former president unless the diseases area is replaced.

Pujalte explained the surgery itself would take two to three hours and that the implant to replace the knee, made of cobalt chrome or high-grade polyethylene, would cost around P60,000 to P80,000.

"So the technical issue is a non-issue," the surgeon said.

He also said seven to 10 days, and not four months, should be enough for Estrada to recover from total knee replacement surgery although he noted that recovery rates vary among patients undergoing different rehabilitation therapies.

"This is to clarify that our local orthopedic surgeons are not dumb, that we are perfectly capable of doing the surgery," Pujalte said.

But lawyer Jesus Crispin Remulla, spokesman of Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), said Estrada is not questioning the competence of Filipino doctors but is invoking his human right to choose his own doctor.

"(Estrada’s detractors) are missing the point," Remulla said. "These groups that claim to be champions of human rights and civil liberties are the first to violate former President Estrada’s rights as a patient to choose his medical treatment when they oppose his appeal." — Katherine Andraneda