Monday, November 26, 2007

Carpenter fixed my leg

A rural surgeon in Assam, an urologist by training has come up with an ingenious way of making up for his lack of expertise fixing complex fractures by internal fixation. He opens up the fracture site, then calls in the local carpenter whom he has taught the basics of surgical sepsis. The carpenter is quite adept at using standard orthopaedic drills, screws, metal plates, bolts and nuts to repair bones just as if they were delicate pieces of furniture. The urologist then repairs any vascular or nerve injuries and closes up. I guess the results would be comparable to that of the average Ortho registrar with only a few surgeries under his belt and in the absence of tertiary level orthopaedic care far better than leaving such cases untouched.

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