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Doctors at a hospital in New Delhi have claimed to have performed the country's first ankle replacement surgery or arthroplasty which was earlier dependent on the western countries, especially the US.

The 'Mobile-bearing cementless' surgery was done on a 32-year-old woman at Fortis hospital in Noida recently.

The woman had met with an accident four years back and was not able to bear weight on her left ankle.

Uptil now, patients willing to undergo a total ankle arthroplasty were dependent on the western countries, especially the US.

"In India, this surgery was done for the first time. The woman is perfectly fine and was discharged two days after the operation," Dr Ashok Rajpal, Head of the Orthopaedic department at Fortis, who performed the surgery, said.

Ankle replacement is done by removing worn out joints surfaces which are responsible for generating the pain, Rajpal said.

"The most important part is cost. The surgery costs somewhere around Rs two lakh, one-sixth being charged by the hospitals in the US for the same treatment," he added.

The surgery is performed with precise instruments to create a level surface for the implanted prosthesis, an artificial device used to replace a missing body part.

"A metal and plastic implant is then placed into the bone ends to function as a new ankle joint. A mobile bearing floats inside the joint to hold it in place," he said.

Cemented ankle surgery is very common in the country but now more and more people are shifting to cementless one as it gives better ankle movements without a limp.

"The artificial ankle lasts for 15-18 years and can be easily replaced by removing mobile bearing," he said.