Cashless or Mediclaim Coverage of Hypospadias repair surgery and treatment by Insurance Companies in India

Hypospadias is a urinary birth defect in which the urinary opening is on the underside of penis rather than being at the tip of the penis. In more than 50% of patients with hypospadias, the penis is also bent downwards – this penis curvature is called chordee. Hypospadias affects 1/150 newborn boys and hence more than 1 lakh (1,00,000) kids are born in India with hypospadias every year. Worldwide the incidence has increased probably due to increasing burden of chemicals and pollutants which act as endocrine disruptors (chemicals which block male hormone action) and have contributed to an increasing incidence of hypospadias.

Most of these kids except the ones with very minor glanular hypospadias without chordee will need surgery. The surgery is ideally done between 6months-18 months for age of the child was born with good weight and full pregnancy, if the child is underweight or preterm or has any other major anomalies then it may be better to wait till the child is about 3 years of age.

When and how does hypospadias happen?

Hypospadias results from defective formation of urinary tube during 8-12 weeks of pregnancy and hence if there is an interference with penis development after 12 weeks of pregnancy, hypospadias cannot happen as penis formation with urinary opening at tip is complete by 12 weeks of pregnancy. Between 8-12 weeks of pregnancy, the urinary pipe forms under the penis from the base to the tip under influence of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone. Along with the urinary tube the various covering layers of the penis such as spongiosum , bucks, dartos and skin also also formed. Hence when the urethra remain short of tip, all surrounding layers also become short.

Is Hypospadias repair surgery covered by insurance companies or corporates for cashless treatment or re-imbursement?

Hypospadias being a penis birth defect is classified as an external birth defect which can be easily diagnosed as soon as the baby is born. Hence, if parents take an insurance policy after the baby is born, hypospadias surgery treatment costs are not covered by most of the insurance companies in India atleast while in USA, UK it is covered under insurance benefits.

The situation is different for some of the corporate insurance group policy holders. Some big corporates like TCS, Reliance, L & T, Siemens etc issue very employee friendly mediclaim policies which cover all medical and surgical treatments for the employees and their families. Such mediclaim policies cover all pre-existing as well as birth defects for their employees and hence hypospadias repair procedure may be covered by the insurance company by some of these companies.

If insurance does not cover the hypospadias treatment, how much does it cost for Hypspadias repair surgery?

If the insurance company is not covering the treatment, then the parents will have to pay the full charges themselves out of their own pocket. For new parents working in a job or middle class environment this may be financially stressful. What really helps is that Hypospadias repair surgery is a planned procedure. It can be done anytime between 6 months-15 months of age giving parents enough time to rally around and arrange everything from money to other resources. The cost of hypospadias repair surgery depends on the type of hypospadias, complexity of repair, which hospital as well as which type of room one chooses to stay in hospital. On a ball park figure it may wary from 75000 Indian rupees for a minor hypospadias surgery in Hypospadias Foundation to even 3,00,000 Rupees for a complex severe hypospadias surgery in a single deluxe room. Hence, it is best that they meet a hypospadias expert or a pediatric urologist early on in first 3 months of baby’s life and then learn everything about the cost of hypospadias surgery, hospital stay, pre-hypospadias surgery tests and then get mentally prepared for the actual surgery.

About Hypospadias Foundation, Navi Mumbai, India

Hypospadias Foundation is an organisation started by Dr A.K.Singal and Dr Manish Dubey for caring, education and research in field of Hypospadias. Dr Singal is one of the best Hypsoapdias Surgeons in India. The team operates more than 200 children and adults every year with best results in hypospadias treatment. The Foundation operates as a part and parcel of MITR Hospital in Kharghar area of Navi Mumbai. MITR Hospital has cashless and mediclaim tie-ups with all major insurance companies and TPA’s to facilitate cashless treatment of hypospadias if the insurance policy covers it.

If you or your child has hypospadias and need to know more, please write to us at hypospadiasfoundationindia@gmail.com or fill up this contact form

Contact form for Hypospadias Foundation

Watch Videos on Hypospadias Channel by Dr A.K.Singal

Video of Distal penile hypospadias repair surgery

Video of Proximal penile hypospadias surgery

Video of Scrotal hypospadias repair

Successful result in a failed hypospadias repair: Boy from Gandhinagar (Gujarat) visits Hypospadias Foundation for a follow-up 5 years after surgery

Hypospadias remains the most common urological abnormality affecting more than 1 lakh kids in India alone (based on incidence of 1/150 in newborn boys). Leaving aside very minor hypospadias without chordee- almost 70-80% of these require hypospadias treatment in form of repair surgery in early childhood.

For a child with Hypospadias, the first surgery is always the best surgery but still there can be complications and failure even in expert hands though complications are much less if operated by a surgeon or a centre where there is a focused practice in treating children with hypospadias. Literature and experts suggest that if a hypospadias surgeon is doing more than 50 hypospadias repairs in a year, then his results will be better and more predictable as compared to a general pediatric surgeon or a urologist who does only 10-20 hypospadias repairs in a year. Once a hypospadias surgery fails, then the next surgeries become more difficult and result more unpredictable. The failure rate of hypospadias surgeries vary from 5% to 50% depending on the type and severity of hypospadias in general centres and less than 10% in centres where hypospadias surgeries are done by expert hypospadias surgeons on a day to day basis.

Case details

Master A.P. was born with a distal penile hypospadias and underwent first surgery in Ahmedabad at the age of 6 years. Unfortunately, the surgery failed and he started passing urine from the same place on the underside of penis- a fistula. The new urinary passage through the head of the penis got tight and closed off. The surgeon tried to open it many times by catheter insertion but it failed. Coupled with failed hypospadias, the child also had an unsatisfactory cosmetic appearance in form of bunching of skin on underside of penis. With this situation they contacted Dr A.K.Singal, Pediatric urologist and expert Hypospadias surgeon at Hypospadias foundation in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai when the boy was ten years of age. After examining and confirming that the whole urinary pipe will have to be remade from distal penile region to the tip of penis (glans), Dr Singal advised a Onlay island flap repair for which the flap would be raised from the nearby bunched up skin. This repair is technically challenging because of previous failed hypospadias surgery but this was the only chance for the boy to have a single stage repair. The surgery for failed hypospadias was finished in 2 hours and A.P. was ready for discharge the next day but since they had travelled all the way from Gujarat, they decided to stay for 7-8 days in Navi Mumbai. The catheter was removed on day7 and he passed urine well from the tip. For the first one month after surgery, there were some chances of new opening getting tight, hence we taught the boy to insert a small catheter just 1cm into the new opening with an antibiotic ointment. The penis healed well in next 3 months and he has remained free of all symptoms now for last 5 years. At 15 years of age and after his 10th standard exams, A.P visited us and had a big smile on his face. He is looking forward to higher education and he shared with us his dreams and further education goals. We plan to see him again one last time at 18 years of age. His penis growth and his functional & cosmetic outcome has been excellent so far.

Dr A.K.Singal with the patient

Letter of thanks from the father:

Dear Dr Singal,

My son A.P was operated first at Ahmedabad. The hypospadias problem was not solved and it actually worsened and we were very tense my son’s future life. While searching through internet I came to know about you and your colleague doctors.

From your past surgeries and mastery about Hypospadia surgeries we decided and contacted you before surgery. At Mitr hospital, from the first meeting with you, we were confident about our son’s second Hypospadias surgery and we decided to do it only with you.

At Mitr Hospital, we experienced very good pre and after surgery treatment from Doctors and staff also, very good and polite staff. At Gujarat we don’t have such experienced and professional hospital staff. I think this is also very important besides doctors. I feel that if the doctors are not confident they must not try and go ahead for these type of surgeries because once it is fails, the situation of patient and his family is unbearable. It creates psychological problems also and these can be very stressful to handle. Thanks to your team, my son is doing well now.

Regards

M.P., Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

About Failed Hypospadias repair:

When the hypospadias surgery fails, it is a moment of distress and lot of anguish for the parents. Even the doctors feel terrible because they know that even a hypospadias surgery which has been done well doesn’t mean that everything will heal also well. There are many variable factors which affect healing and hence, complications of hypospadias surgery happen sometimes even in best of hypospadias surgeon’s hands. The only difference being that when an expert hypospadias surgeon does the surgery, the chances of complications decreases drastically. And even if the complications happen, they can be managed well without any panic or long lasting impact.

The complications which may need second surgery are: urethral fistula, tight urethra (stenosis or urethral stricture), residual curvature (chordee), dehiscence (complete breakdown or partial breakdown), diverticulum, penile torsion or an unsatisfactory cosmetic outcome. Once it is ascertained that a second surgery is indeed needed for hypospadias, it is important to wait for 5-6 months before planning the next surgery.

About Dr A.K.Singal

Dr A.K.Singal is a well known Pediatric Urologist and one of the best hypospadias surgeons in India. Every year under his care in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, more than 150 children undergo hypospadias treatment. More than 50 of these are children who have failed hypospadias surgery done elsewhere. With his deep understanding and experience, Dr Singal and his team are able to offer care and cure to these children. He can be contacted at hypospadiasfoundationindia@gmail.com or you can call his Assistant Doctor – Dr Rajkumar at 98212161448 if you wish to take a second opinion for a failed hypospadias surgery. Else you can fill up this contact form:

Contact Dr A.K.Singal

In search for a cure for Hypospadias: From Lucknow to Navi Mumbai, India

Hypospadias remains the most common urological anomaly in boys and more than 1 lakh kids are born in India every year with Hypospadias. Majority of these are mild variety like glanular, coronal, distal penile or midpenile hypospadias. Less than 15% of all hypospadias are moderate to severe variety of hypospadias like proximal penile, penoscrotal or scrotal hypospadias. While very mild hypospadias like glanular or coronal without chordee may be left alone without surgery, all other types of hypospadias or those with chordee require hypospadias correction treatment.

There are more than 100 different types of hypospadias surgery techniques described in medical literature attesting to the fact that none of the techniques are perfect or suitable for all types of hypospadias. The hypospadias specialist surgeon needs to be well acquainted with anatomy and various techniques to decide the type of surgery needed in a particular hypospadias case. Subtle variations in anatomy decide the type of technique needed. Hence the decision for each hypospadias is very individualized.

The common techniques in use for primary hypospadias are TIP urethroplasty (Snodgrass repair), Mathieu repair, Onlay Island flap urethroplasty, Prepucial tube and staged Bracka’s urethroplasty. Each technique of hypospadias surgery has its own advantages and disadvantages and case selection becomes very important.

Case: Boy from Lucknow

Master A.C. was born with proximal penile hypospadias in Lucknow. He was advised surgery after one year of age by the doctors in Lucknow. They consulted various surgeons in Lucknow and Delhi but were not satisfied by the approach. Finally, the boy’s uncle who was a scientist in CSIR sent an email to Hypospadias Foundation with all records and pictures asking for an opinion. We advised a clinical examination and a single stage surgery. The family flew to Mumbai and saw us in MITR Hospital, Kharghar where Hypospadias Foundation is located. The penis size for Master A.C. was very small with a stretched penile length of 2 cm and Glans diameter of 11mm. We advised two injections of Testosterone (male hormone) to induce growth of penis at one month interval. After one month of second injection, the glans size increased to 15.5 mm and penis length to 29mm. At this time, we planned a hypospadias correction surgery. A.C. was admitted the morning of surgery and a single stage urethroplasty was done using Onlay Island Flap technique for which Dr Singal is very renowned. The surgery took 90 minutes and the boy was discharged the next morning after hypospadias surgery. The dressing was removed after 5 days and catheter was removed after 10 days. A.C. passed urine well and at one month follow-up was passing urine in a good stream without any issues. The penis has healed very well with an excellent cosmetic result. The parents were overjoyed and sent an email of thanks after one month from Lucknow. Further follow-ups will be via email and phone calls. Patients from across the globe follow-up with us using electronic medium such as email, whats app and skype.

Dr Singal with Family from Lucknow

Testosterone (hormone) injection before Hypospadias surgery

In some cases of hypospadias the penile size may be small and the head of penis (glans) may be very tiny. In such cases it is difficult to repair the hypospadias adequately. We advise testosterone injections in dose of 25mg intramuscular injections two months and one month before surgery. The testosterone injections help in two ways: Increasing the size of penis and glans; secondly the blood supply (vascularity) of the foreskin increases which helps in making a good flap in severe hypospadias. Two doses of testosterone injections do not have any short term or long term side effects on body growth etc. Part of the effect of testosterone on penile growth is reversible but part increase in size of penis is permanent. For us at Hypospadias foundation, we give Testosterone injections for babies where the penis size is less than 25mm or the glans diameter is less than 13-14mm.

Onlay Island flap urethroplasty

Onlay island flap urethroplasty is a type of hypospadias repair surgery where a flap is made from foreskin on the top of penis (dorsal prepuce) and brought on underside of penis. This flap is based on a robust blood supply from dartos tissue of the foreskin (see the video below). Onlay island flap urethroplasty is reserved for severe hypospadias or where the TIP repair is not suitable and the chordee is not very severe. In hands of expert hypospadias surgeons, Onlay Island flap urethroplasty offers best results in repair of severe hypospadias. Dr A.K.Singal is one of the best hypospadias surgeon specialists in India for such surgeries. Dr Singal has been invited at various national and international conferences to showcase his surgical technique (see video below). Every year more than 200 children and adults with primary or failed hypospadias are operated under his team’s care in Navi Mumbai, India.

If your child has a hypospadias and you wish to get in touch with Dr Singal for treatment, you can fill up the contact form below or you can see him at one of his hypospadias clinics in Navi Mumbai or Mumbai. You can also call up Dr Rajkumar, Co-ordinator for Hypospadias Foundation at +91-9821261448 between 9am-6pm to discuss any queries.

Dr Singal’s clinics and Timings

Contact form for Dr Singal & Hypospadias Foundation

See Video of Proximal penile hypospadias repair using Onlay Island flap technique- by Dr A.K.Singal

See Scrotal Hypospadias repair using Onlay Island flap urethroplasty- by Dr A.K.Singal

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    Twins from Greece undergo successful surgery for severe hypospadias in Mumbai, India

    Across the borders for Hypospadias

    Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital anomalies affecting more than 4,00,000 newborn babies every year across the globe. The problem is not restricted to any particular country or race. Every year, our team at Hypospadias Foundation lead by Dr A.K. Singal manages kids with hypospadias from across India and also from other countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Iraq, Bangladesh, USA and recently Greece.

    Well, the kids from Greece were a whole different story. Though originally from Greece, their father Ioannis Padadatos was employed with a company in Delhi. Master Konstantinos and Spyridon Papadatos, twin babies were born in Delhi to Maria and Ioannis were noted to have hypospadias at birth. The hypospadias was relatively severe in both the children and had associated chordee. The urethral opening was near the scrotum (testis) called Penoscrotal hypospadias. Parents were very hassled as they had never heard of the condition before and now both their newborn babies had severe variety of hyposapdias. Dissatisfied with the information given by pediatricians, pediatric surgeons and urologists in Delhi, they took up to internet for more information. They contacted Dr A.K.Singal, Pediatric Urologist & renowned Hypospadias surgeon who regularly writes articles at www.hypospadiasfoundation.com . Though they had visited the multiple doctors in delhi, what reassured them was the blogs written by dr A.K.Singal about his experience with children who had hypospadias.

    After exchange of a few emails, Maria and Ioannis travelled all the way to Mumbai when the babies were 6 months old, in Nov 2013 to consult Dr A.K.Singal at Fortis Hospital in Vashi. Since the right age of surgery for hypospadias is 6 – 15 months, the parents elected to get the surgery done as soon as possible. After the blood tests, the parents again came to Mumbai in December to get the surgery done for both the kids. Master Spyridon underwent surgery on a Monday while Konstantinos underwent surgery on Tuesday. Though both had severe hypospadias and the parents were counseled that a two staged correction may be needed, the whole hypospadias surgical correction was performed in one stage using an Onlay Island Flap urethroplasty of which Dr Singal is an expert. The correction of penile curvature (chordee correction) and formation of new urinary tube (urethroplasty) were all performed in one stage.

    After one more day post-surgery in Mumbai, the family travelled back to Delhi and kept in regular touch with Dr Singal via email. Dr Singal visited them one week later in Fortis Hospital in Delhi while attending a conference. Finally the catheter (urinary pipe) was removed after ten days of surgery and babies passed urine in good thick stream signifying a successful outcome in one stage. Now almost nine months after hypospadias surgery, both the babies are doing extremely well.

    The family has now shifted to Doha, Qatar but they have taken a lot of India with them and most of all fond memories. We at Hypospadias Foundation are very happy to see the kids grow well and pass urine from a normal opening.

    Dr Singal adds “With the advances in instruments and sutures plus better surgical techniques, we are able to do single stage correction for even severe hypospadias in most cases. Rarely we need second surgery and that too if there are complications in the first hypospadias surgery. I am happy that Maria and Ioannis trusted us for management of their children for hypospadias. They came with full faith and trust and that made my job so much easier. I will always remember their family and their beautiful kids. It was indeed a joy meeting them and knowing them. Sometimes I wonder as a hypospadias surgeon what kind of leap of faith the parents must take to travel in an unknown country to an unknown doctor and trust him/ her with the lives of their little ones. I truly appreciate their courage and faith.”

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