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Surgery and Healing in the Developing World - Dartmouth-Hitchcock

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To My Son, <strong>the</strong> Urologist<br />

Figure 4. Preoperative prayer ensures God’s H<strong>and</strong> on m<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>traoperative.<br />

7/8: Read <strong>in</strong> an English-language newspaper from Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capitol,<br />

trade <strong>in</strong> human kidneys is thriv<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> cost of some poor people, who are<br />

sell<strong>in</strong>g parts of <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>in</strong> order to earn money. Buyers of <strong>the</strong>se kidneys turn to<br />

Bangladesh <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly, because traffic <strong>in</strong> human parts is banned <strong>in</strong> most developed<br />

countries. Children, reports have it, are be<strong>in</strong>g kidnapped <strong>and</strong> killed for <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

organs, which can be sold <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational market at a high price. How<br />

shock<strong>in</strong>g it is that such a practice might be occurr<strong>in</strong>g, but even more appall<strong>in</strong>g to<br />

me is that <strong>the</strong> ‘medical profession’ participates <strong>in</strong> such a sordid scheme.<br />

7/9: A dead baby found <strong>in</strong> a box <strong>in</strong> a hallway of one of <strong>the</strong> hospital’s corridors.<br />

Such a shock <strong>and</strong> frustration that life seems so cheap here.<br />

7/10: Got a great photo today <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> OR ... <strong>the</strong> anes<strong>the</strong>tist sitt<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> head<br />

of <strong>the</strong> patient with a fly swatter. A ‘no fly zone’, <strong>in</strong>deed! A 6-foot b<strong>and</strong>ed kreit, <strong>the</strong><br />

‘2-step snake’, caught <strong>and</strong> killed near <strong>the</strong> surgeon’s home tonight. The bitten victim<br />

takes 2 steps, <strong>the</strong>n dies, <strong>the</strong>y tell me. A young lady found a sizable frog <strong>in</strong> her<br />

toilet this morn<strong>in</strong>g, rem<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g one of <strong>the</strong> old timers of <strong>the</strong> day a cobra had come<br />

up through <strong>the</strong> toilet! He went on to comment, ‘No problem until you sit down’!<br />

On-call surgeon awakened at 3 a.m. today. ‘Patient <strong>in</strong> bed 13 is dead.’ He went<br />

over to <strong>the</strong> hospital to check, because some of <strong>the</strong> nationals have difficulty read<strong>in</strong>g<br />

blood pressures below 90 systolic! (Patient had died.) Serious ra<strong>in</strong> now for nearly<br />

24 hours. Have heard by word of mouth that <strong>the</strong> only road north to Chittagong,<br />

65 miles away, is flood<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> stretches wash<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> Bay of Bengal. Submerged<br />

power l<strong>in</strong>es endanger hospital functions, s<strong>in</strong>ce generator fuel, trucked <strong>in</strong><br />

from <strong>the</strong> north, has dropped to critical levels. Homes have disappeared under<br />

water <strong>and</strong> Bengalis have been swept to certa<strong>in</strong> death <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bay by surg<strong>in</strong>g currents.<br />

The experienced advise those need<strong>in</strong>g to depart to make a break for it Saturday<br />

morn<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

7/12: We six (five men, one woman) <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bronco, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g two coolies to<br />

assist with our baggage, pray twice as we depart ... once <strong>in</strong> English, once <strong>in</strong> Bengali.<br />

Our driver remarks that Bangladesh is not really <strong>the</strong> ‘kidney of <strong>the</strong> Himalayas’,<br />

but <strong>the</strong> bladder. True enough.<br />

43<br />

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