South African Docs

They are a dying breed. Their practical experience is astounding. They all seem to have done hundreds of caesarean sections, zillions of anaesthetic, tons of trauma surgery and be capable of doing many procedures. They remove ganglions, do carpal tunnel operations and other such procedures in their surgeries. No waiting a year to see a surgeon, then waiting six months for nerve studies and then being on a waiting list for a year before being dropped off it and told to go back and see your doctor.

If I was in trouble I'd be happy to have these men and women around. As we move into the world of "scopes of practice" these skilled doctors find their talents unused. You may have done a hundred carpal tunnels but it's beyond your scope!! If you want to do them you'll have to be supervised. Patient safety is paramount. And so folk suffer for a year or two and wait.


See that white band they call the transverse carpal ligament. Under it lies many tendons and the median nerve. Things can get a bit tight in this tunnel. When it does, folk may get nasty pins and needles which wakes them at night in their thumb, index and middle fingers. The operation to fix this is to cut that ligament and let the tunnel open up. You need a bloodless field, good knowledge of the local anatomy and experience - its an easy operation.

In a few years they will be saying it's okay for specially trained nurse practitioners to do it - and maybe it will be - but why not let these experienced south african doctors do this procedure now?

How boring do they want this job to become?

The brightest students go into medicine today - why would any of these super brains want to be in general practice.

In my day I got into medical school because I had three passes at A level and 5 at O level (the minimum). It helped that my dad trained at the same medical school and I played wing foward in rugby.

"How's your father Bell - haven't seen him for a long time".

By the time my brother got there he had to have 3 As at A level.

You don't need to be hydrocephalic to be a doctor.