duke office

In my third week at Karapitiya Hospital I was introduced to Dr. Kumara, senior lecturer in Surgery. Participating in various surgical cases was what I was most looking forward to on my rotation in Sri Lanka. Walking into the OT I noticed it was quite a different set up from the operating rooms back in the states.  Patients were lined up on a bench right outside of the open theater doors with their medical chart in hand. Some patients were even curious enough to stand and watch the ongoing procedures from the doorway. On the other side of the patient bench was a make-shift PACU where the post-operative patients were still coming out of their anesthesia. Inside the operating theater, there were multiple procedures going on at the same time. In one corner of the room, a woman was having a lumpectomy under local anesthesia. In the center of the room, a man was under general anesthesia having an open cholecystectomy. Finally, off to the side of the room a woman was getting a carpal tunnel release.

As I was taking in the similarities and differences of the OT, one of the general surgeons asked me to scrub for a thyroidectomy. The case got underway and I was impressed by the speed and precision of the surgeon. Thyroidectomies are a very common procedure here in Sri Lanka and these surgeons perform so many each day, I’m sure they could do this procedure in their sleep. Following the procedure, I noted that the turnover time between cases is quite rapid. Turning over an OR at home takes a bit of time, but here, there is no time to waste. They have so many patients in need of surgery and not enough resources to do so.

One thing I found truly amazing about the Sri Lankans is their strength to overcome adversity. But more impressive is the way they do so without complaint. The patients waiting in the hallway of the theater could be there all day long, sometimes not having their surgery until 1 in the morning, but there was no complaining. I commented to one of the orthopaedic about how refreshing it was to have people be thankful for the help they are receiving instead of complaining about the wait time, or cosmetics of the scar, or the post-op pain, or even the food at the hospital! The surgeon told me that Sri Lankans are very accepting of their own problems and illnesses. Then he smiled, leaned in and said, “Sri Lankans don’t sue their physicians and that’s something you all have to worry about over there.” Sri Lankans understand that this is the life they were given and they will deal with it as best as they can. They do not blame physicians (or others) for their problems, but instead are grateful for the care they receive.

After a few orthopaedic surgeries, I stepped into the general surgery suite to watch an open cholecystectomy. Since we do these procedures laparoscopically in the states, it was a new operation to me. There is only one scope for the entire hospital so most all procedures that we would do laparoscopically at home are performed as an open procedure here. Similarly, the hospital does not have mesh implants for hernia repairs. Instead, I learned an old suturing technique to weave a meshwork of suture over the opening. Quite impressive and cost effective. As a global practitioner, I’ll need to be prepared to assist in surgeries with fewer resources and embrace both old and new techniques to achieve good end results. I am very grateful to have watched so many procedures and techniques that I won’t get to see (or rarely see) in my training in the US.

I also spend time with Dr. Kumara during his thyroid, vascular, and endoscopic clinics. In the thyroid and vascular clinics, I was surprised to see patients bring their own injections to Dr. Kumara. In the endoscopy clinic, I was stunned to see that patients were not sedated for upper endoscopies or colonoscopies. But once again, there are no resources available to take care of these patients post-procedure if they were to have an anesthetic so using a local anesthetic is the only feasible option.  

With that, we headed to meet up with two German medical students, also doing an elective clinical rotation. They were already in the casualty theater where we spent the rest of our day assisting in I&D’s, suturing small lacerations and bandaging head wounds. Overall, surgery in Sri Lanka very much surprised me. For the limited resources available, the shortage of qualified surgeons and the ever increasing number of patients in need of surgery, the surgeons here are very efficient with their time, skilled in technique and quite resourceful. We may have different ways of carrying out a procedure, but we all get the job done.

When I wasn’t in the OT, I was out in the community, learning more about the public health system, specifically the care of orphans and elderly. My colleagues and I have already been to a government run orphanage, and this week we wanted to see how the private orphanages compared. We visited an SOS Village, an Austrian run organization which hosts 12 children per home in 12 total homes on the property. Each “family” home consists of children aged 0-16 years brought in by the courts in cases of abuse or abandonment. The children are cared for by a “mother” in each home who cooks, cleans, and teaches the children valuable life lessons. These “mother’s” undergo years of training and a very intensive screening and selection process. The children still attend public schools like their peers, and return to the village to live a life as close to their peers as possible. It was wonderful to see an organization like this one, working so hard to give these children a rich and meaningful childhood.

We also made our way to a catholic-run elderly home where I had the pleasure of meeting an amazing woman who was blinded by the tsunami. She told us her story and how the sisters had found her on the streets, nearly dead, and brought her to the facility because she had no money, no family and no way to survive. The sisters were able to find a surgeon, who just this past year, performed an incredible surgery to restore her vision! She was able to see for the first time since 2004.

There were so many great stories from the folks at the elderly home, but what I liked most about the facility was that every resident helped out in any way they could. Some set the dining room tables for meals, others cleared dishes, or peeled vegetables, and some knitted bedding or doilies for the sisters to sell at the markets to bring in money for the home. Not everyone could pay, but no one was turned away.

With another fantastic week in the books, it’s hard to believe my time in Sri Lanka is coming to a close. I have learned so much in my short stay; it will be hard to leave. I am very grateful to have had this learning opportunity here in Sri Lanka and I hope that I may return here as a provider one day.