I am so grateful to Dr. Pushpindar Bajaj, Dr. Lalit Maini and ISKSAA organizing committee for selecting me for ISKSAA UK Birmingham Patello-femoral travelling fellowship under guidance of Mr Tanweer Ashraf extending from 25th September to 9th October 2024.

Mr Ashraf helped us with the formalities required by the hospitals. He gave us the contact of his Registrar Mr Rohan who was also pivotal in helping us plan the fellowship. Mr Ashraf is a knee surgeon with vast experience in the field. He , along with three more knee surgeons , Mr Tarek Boutefnouchet, Mr Tamer Sweed and Mr Omar Alanie, were very welcoming and made sure we had plenty of surgeries in the two week schedule. Their practice spans over four hospitals of Birmingham, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (dedicated Orthopaedic centra), Queen Elizabeth Hospital (one of the biggest trauma care centres, with an awe-inspiring OR Floor), Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and Good Hope Hospital. Most of the days we chose to spend in Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.

Mr Ashraf is very welcoming, extremely knowledgable and patient. He made sure we had exposure to a good number of cases both OP and operative each day. His knowledge and approach to patello-femoral diseases, be it arthritis or instability is inspiring.
He patiently explained all our doubts, allowed us to scrub in for the rare cases so we can get a good orientation into the procedure.
The best times were the intra-surgery coffee breaks when we would have discussions ranging from Orthopaedics to Life!

We saw many knee replacements (partial and total), arthroscopies, multiligamentous injury, patellofemoral instability necessitating trochleoplasty. All the surgeons were very accommodative and patient with our inquisitiveness. The entire staff were very welcoming of us, helping us whenever we needed any help . The systematic approach to patient care followed in the hospitals was eye-opening for me.

Mr Ashraf encouraged us to participate in many ESSKA seminars held at that time, the OR planning meetings in QEH, and we had a seminar on Fractures and Osteotomies around the knee on the last day of our term. We had a beautiful Last Day dinner at a Lebanese Restuarant.