Moolchand Hospital’s senior orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Rajeev Sharma, was left momentarily speechless when he was hit by a double surprise moment. First, when a senior citizen couple, requiring a knee replacement, expressed their wish to undergo the procedure together. Second, when just two days before their operation, the doctor learnt the couple’s identity, Indian Army’s first Sikh chief General Joginder Jaswan Singh (Retd) and his wife, artist Anupama Singh.
A doctor who has performed countless knee surgeries never got such a request. He told HT City, “I’ve never seen something like this.” “At first, I didn’t even know he was a former Army Chief. They came to the OPD like regular patients – humble and unassuming. I found out only when my assistant, who was in touch with theirs, mentioned it,” Dr Sharma added.
The doctor said that when he suggested at the OPD that they both needed knee replacement, they said they wanted to get the surgery side-by-side, on the same day.
For this occurrence in August, many wondered what the reason could be. Dr Sharma said, “I don’t know, a romantic angle maybe!”
General Joginder Jaswant Singh (Retd), commonly known as General JJ Singh, has commanded troops in the most unstable zones, led the Indian Army for two years (2005 to 2007), and later served as the governor of Arunachal Pradesh for five years.
General Singh told HT City that undergoing the operation together, for him, simply meant that they “were compelled to be together”.
The 80-year-old former Army chief had his right knee replaced, and his wife, in her mid-70s, had her left.
Recalling how Dr Sharma told the elder couple, on their first meeting, that they were walking with “willpower” and not their knees, the General said that following the surgeries, he and his wife now have a better quality of life and are already walking without a limp.
Both General Singh and Anupama are back on their routine; the former is focusing on his new book and the latter on her art.