A volunteer surgeon used SMS to get instructions on how to amputate a boy’s arm.
A British surgeon volunteering in Congo used his mobile phone to receive SMS instructions on how to perform an amputation.
David Nott, the surgeon who performed the operation, needed his left shoulder blade removed after his arm was bitten off by a hippopotamus.
Unfortunately, the surgeon had never performed the procedure before.
So he texted Professor Meirion Thomas, who had performed multiple amputations, for instructions.
“Even then I had to think long and hard about whether it was right to leave a young boy with only one arm in the middle of this fighting,” said Nott, who is working in the region of Nord-Kivu which is facing heavy fighting between Congolese government troops and Congo rebels.
“But in the end he would have died without it so I took a deep breath and followed the instructions to the letter.”
“That is why I volunteer myself so often, I love being able to save someone’s life.”
The boy has made a full recovery, although fighting in the region continues.
Source:
SMH
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