A team of doctors from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi has carried out a rare surgical procedure using 3D printing technology to give a new lease of life to an infant who was born without a sternum or breast bone – a rare condition known as complete cleft sternum. The doctors made use of 3D model to perform the complex surgery several times and then used titanium to print the implant that was fixed in place in the body of the infant during the surgery.

Considering the rise of health cost (consulation, diagnostic services, and surgeries) in India, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi is among a few hospitals and visionaries taking up the responsibility for the country’s health by offering affordable medical services, and setting a noble as well as a profitable healthcare model. 

Located in Kochi, Amrita Hospital is one of Kerala’s premier institute-hospitals, equipped with 1300 beds and serving more than 10 lakh outpatients. A recipient of the British medical Journal Award for the Best Surgical Team in South Asia, the hospital was inspired by Mata Amritanandamayi and inaugurated on May 17, 1998, by the then Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in her presence. Since then, the hospital has provided $70 million+ worth of charitable medical care with 3 million patients treated free of cost. The hospital also conducts 100 free camps in economically backward and remote areas with diagnostic treatment and medication provided for free. The hospital also has outpatient clinics in Kerala where it provides free medical treatment, particularly to people suffering from HIV/AIDS as well as a cancer hospice in Mumbai providing medical treatment and other basic amenities such as free medicines, rice, and other edible items to the poor suffering from terminal cancer.

“The burden of paediatric heart disease in India is likely to be the largest among all nations in the world simply because of the fact that there are more children born in India than anywhere else,” says Dr. Krishnakumar R., Head of Department and Professor, Dept. of Paediatric Cardiology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi. According to the doctor, one in 120 children are born with congenital heart diseases as of today.

Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (Amrita Hospital), based in Kochi, Kerala, is recognized as one of the premier hospitals in South Asia. The construction of the new branch of the hospital is in full-swing at Faridabad with 2,400 beds, making it the largest in the country and perhaps, even in Asia. The hospital’s extensive infrastructure offers facilities comprising 28 modern operating theatres, 275 well-equipped intensive-care beds, a fully computerized and networked Hospital Information System (HIS), a fully digital radiology department, 17 NABL accredited clinical laboratories and 24/7 telemedicine service.

A team of doctors from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi, has carried out a rare surgical procedure using 3D printing technology to give a new lease of life to an infant who was born without a sternum or breast bone – a rare condition known as complete cleft sternum. The doctors made use of 3D model to perform the complex surgery several times and then used titanium to print the implant that was fixed in place in the body of the infant during the surgery.