Knife Surgery in Uganda
The legendary Swiss Army Knife satisfies the most rigorous demands for quality, not least in the field of medicine. An example from black Africa makes his point impressively. On 18 September 1991 the Elsener knife factory received a letter from Professor John Ross, a Canadian doctor who was giving further training to local doctors in a rural region of Uganda. Shortly after his arrival his surgical saw was stolen. All he had left to carry out leg and arm amputations was his Swiss Army Knife. In his own words:
«I started work here two years ago. Part of my work is dedicated to the development of a hospital in a small town called Tororo. It is located close to the Kenyan border, some 300 km from Kampala, the capital of Uganda. For my work I brought a wide range of surgical instruments with me, one of which was a good surgical saw for amputations. This type of instrument is needed here because many injuries occur here, such as bullet wounds, which result in having to amputate an arm or leg. Shortly after my arrival here the surgical saw was stolen. So my Swiss Army Knife, which I always carry with me, was sterilised in boiling water. From then on I decided to use the saw on the knife for amputations. It worked very well. It took an entire six months for me to get a new surgical saw. During this time I carried out at least six amputations using the saw on the knife. Although the knife lost its lovely red plastic cover due to being repeatedly boiled in water, the instrument otherwise worked faultlessly. I thought this information might be of use to you, and maybe for your advertising. You can tell people that the knife has a great scope of application because of the steel you use, which must be of excellent quality.»
Comments
Leave a Reply
