Gun Shot Injury

If you have read the previous write up, show you must be expecting something on smoking.Well that's a series and i intend to continue.

Meanwhile something interesting just happened in the hospital today and i think i should let us know about it and take precautions and maybe also do something about the health care system in this country. The law that doctors shouldn't treat a gunshot case until a police report is presented, or that patients gunshot patients should first of all report at the police station before seeking help in the hospital is causing us a lot.

This senerio is however a recurring decimal in the system. Before i forget, i want to let you share in this sordid stroy.

A 24 year old male patient who was involved in a gunshot incident on his right hip was brought to the hospital yesterday. He was ofcourse seen by the doctor on call and admited to be tranfered to the ward. Today when the consultant came for a ward round his attention was drawn to this patient.

To cut a long story shot, the signs elicited showed that, there has been a damage to the major artery supplying blood to the limb (The femoral artey). And while the patient was trying to get police report, apart from bleeding so much, there has been ischemia of the right lower limd as blood has seized to flow into it for upto 24hrs.

The implications of this is that, this young 24 year old fellow with a very bright future has lost his limb all because, nothing was done for him in the first 6 hours of this event. The limb still looks very good but truth is that, it will get bad, worse and worst with time. Simply, the limb is dead. This man may loose is his limbs for the rest of his life. What can we do with draconian laws in this country?