Helping others

The orthopaedic surgery to be performed on some 150 children and teenagers by a 18-member team of specialists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will not only correct existing bone and/or muscle deformities but will contribute to the building of the patients’ self-esteem. The exercise will effectively reduce the long waiting list in Trinidad and Tobago for orthopaedic surgery. The size of the orthopaedic waiting list is second only to that for cataract surgery. Prospective beneficiaries were screened on Sunday at the Surgical Clinic at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where the operations are to take place.

Not only the patients, but the team of local doctors expected to work alongside the UCSF specialists, will benefit from the corrective surgery to be performed by the group, Operation Rainbow, headed by Dr Taylor Smith. The patients will gain better, if not full, control of affected limbs while the Trinidad and Tobago doctors will profit through being exposed to the latest in orthopaedic procedures. A clear plus will be that unlike some of the other instances of voluntary surgery conducted in the past by various teams of visiting specialist surgeons there will be predetermined follow up medical care.

At the end of the corrective surgery, patients who may have had difficulty in walking or in otherwise having full control of limbs and may have suffered the insensitivity of unkind persons, will be able to develop a much better image of themselves. There should, of course be no reason  for persons who were born with deformities or who have them as a result of accidents to be the subject of ridicule but there are many among us who show their ignorance this way.

Dr Brian Lushington, head of Missions International Trinidad, the group which set up the link to Operation Rainbow, has advised that a team of maxilo facial specialists will be arriving on March 19 to perform surgery, while another team will be conducting gynaeocological surgery next month, and yet another team is due from Sweden in May for general surgical procedures. We need this help even more these days given the attitude of so many of our doctors towards the care of the sick and those who need specialised surgery. The waiting lists are much too long and the individuals whose names are on the lists are entitled to better treatment.