Trauma / Injury
Three Patients with Injury to Liver The Liver is a vital organ of the human body. It is very vascular and injury to the liver is associated with bleeding, which sometimes can be fatal. The extent of the injury may vary depending on the causative factor. Liver injury may follow both open and closed trauma. Examples of open injury include those caused by a stab which does not produce much damage or a gunshot which can tear and disrupt the…
In this rural District the majority of the people were farmers. They were exposed to variety of dangerous practices which caused injuries requiring admission to hospital for surgery. There were occasions when these were fatal. A variety of such injuries too had to be treated in the local hospital with the limited resources that were available. I had no experience of treating such injuries in the past as they are seen only in rural hospitals where I had not worked…
The knife that is used by the surgeon consists of a scalpel blade and a handle. That’s my “Healing Knife”. When performing surgery this healing knife is used meticulously together with other surgical instruments to excise diseased parts of the human body and carry out the necessary repair to restore body function, relieve suffering and save precious lives.A surgeon does this with care, compassion and love. That is a surgeon’s duty and that was my duty for over three decades….
During the time that I was serving in Polonnaruwa as the surgeon in that hospital I was called upon to treat many victims who had suffered burn injuries sustained from Kerosene oil bottle lamps. There were many rural hamlets where farmers lived and had no access to electricity from the grid supplying the town areas. Consequently, they were using a low-cost solution: kerosene oil in bottles with a wick as their lighting source. These bottles with kerosene can topple, the…
Life is like a book. Each page has a new content. This quote pertains to my adventurous 38 years of life as a surgeon in Sri Lanka. There were many times when I had to make my own bold decisions especially in life or death situations. Here are a few illustrations of patients treated at a hospital with limited resources during the period 1982 – 1988 Nihal was a 26 – year old Commando of the Police Special Task Force…