FortySouth

In a story of great courage, great talent and the best of technology, a boy’s life is saved from certain death.

David Nott, a British surgeon working voluntarily with Medicins Sans Frontieres, and two Congolese surgeons operated on their patient, a child only identified as J, using instructions sent to them via text message from the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.

The contact: Prof. Meirion Thomas, Dr. Nott’s colleague, who was vacationing there. He was apparently unreachable by phone.

J’s arm had been bitten off by a hippo near his home in Rutshuru, northern Congo and so it had to be amputated. Another doctor had earlier done the amputation but the wound became infected and so Dr. Nott and the two Congolese surgeons had to amputate his shoulder too, a procedure they were unfamiliar with.

Two of Prof. Thomas’ texts later, with instructions and wishing him luck, the operation was successful. The presence of a reliable and pervasive mobile network in the region turned out to be their saving grace.

‘God works in mysterious ways  -  and this time he was working via text message.’

I think the decision of the three surgeons, and many others in the region, to offer their training and skills to people living in those troubled areas most hard hit by the clashes in Congo, is one of selflessness, courage and true heroism.

Photo credit: Daily Mail

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