By A Correspondent
Indians entering a new golden age05.08.05 By Andy Mukherjee If John Maynard Keynes were alive today, he would be horrified to see gold rallying again and for a reason very familiar to the British economist: India's...
A TEENAGER who was left housebound after an ice-skating injury is flying to India for surgery rather than waiting many months in Britain.
Elliot Knott, 14, was told he would have to wait 17 weeks for an appointment, then at least nine months for an operation. His mother was outraged at the waiting time and has paid £6,000 to fly her son to Delhi for treatment.
The schoolboy, who was captain of the west Dorset Warriors swimming team, is suffering from spondylolisthesis, a condition that developed after he injured his back. He can barely stand and has to be helped around his home near Dorchester.
The debilitating condition is caused when a vertebra slips out of line in the spinal column and presses on a nerve. Elliot, who was due to begin his GCSEs at the Thomas Hardy School, had to stop attending clbuttes because of the pain.
In May his local hospital in Dorchester, which does not carry out the procedure, referred him to Southampton General Hospital.
His parents, who are both design engineers, considered private treatment but that would have cost £25,000. They discovered that the operation could be done in India for £4,700.
Elliot and his mother are flying to Delhi on Tuesday and will be there for 18 days. It is hoped that he will be back at school within weeks. "It's mad really," Mrs Knott said. "There are all these doctors who can't get jobs in the NHS which is clearly in need of them."
