Surgeon describes horror of quake victims
Original link: www.asianimage.co.uk
6:13pm Saturday 10th October 2009
A British surgeon working with victims of the Indonesian earthquake has described the horrific injuries he has been treating.
Waseem Saeed, 46, has been operating flat out since arriving in Padang on the island of Sumatra following the quake on September 30.
"The Indonesians are so calm and serene about it all. They are so welcoming you forget how much they are suffering at the moment."
Many of the victims have suffered injuries to their feet and lower legs after running from collapsing buildings or attempting to jump to safety.
Mr Saeed, a plastic surgeon, said more soft tissue experts were needed in emergency zones to help prevent infections, unnecessary amputations and deaths.
He has been working at the main military hospital in Padang since arriving on October 5 as part of a team, also including two nurses and an anaesthetist, sent by medical aid agency Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International).
Mr Saeed said: “In these sorts of disaster zones when you have these types of heavy crush injuries there is a great deal of damage to bones but also to soft tissues.
”So there’s no point sending lots of orthopaedic surgeons if they are not backed up by soft tissue surgeons.
”We’re in a situation where there have been lots of surgeons coming in fixing bones but very little done with soft tissue injuries.
”We are now starting to see the complications arising, which is where my work comes in.
”I’m now seeing some chronic, acutely infected wounds.
”My job is to assess these wounds and cover any exposed joints or tendons, any structures that are vulnerable to getting exposed.”
Mr Saeed, who lives in south Manchester, works as a consultant plastic surgeon in hospitals including Leeds Nuffield, and lectures at Leeds University medical school.
He saved the life of one 17-year-old girl suffering from a severe heel wound, which had been seen to at a hospital but not properly treated.
The girl’s foot and ankle were swollen and gangrene had set in.
He said: “A few days more and that would have led to blood poisoning, which would have put her in a very dangerous position. She could have died.
”I cleaned up the wound and she’s young and healthy so she responded very well to that. She’s now doing remarkably well.”
In another case a worried father brought his four-year-old girl to the surgeon. She had suffered a laceration across her cheek which doctors had stitched up badly.
”It was a ragged, uneven wound, cobbled together in an unsightly way,” he said.
”He brought his daughter in to ask if I could make it better.”
He found out afterwards that the girl had an identical twin sister, which reminded him of his own identical twin girls, Safa and Imaan, aged six.
He also has two more daughters, Elisha, nine, and Sabriyah, 12, as well as an understanding wife, Saika, who helps organise his trips.
”She’s very supportive, she doesn’t question how long I’m going to be away,” he said.
Other people he has operated on include a man hit on the head by falling masonry as he rescued victims from a hotel.
He has been working closely with his Indonesian colleagues who are keen to learn from his expertise.
”It’s not like an NHS operating theatre, it’s very basic.
”But they know what they are doing, they are well trained.
”They are very good at infection control and they are efficient in the way in which they use their materials.”
Mr Saeed took much of the necessary surgical equipment with him from the UK, including everything from skin grafting knives to stitches.
One device he included in his luggage was a skin graft mesher, which allows skin from a donor site, such as the patient’s thigh, to be stretched across a larger area “like a string vest”.
As one of the only people in the area with his expertise, Mr Saeed is staying on in the country to follow up on the progress of his patients.
He said: “The Indonesians are so calm and serene about it all. They are so welcoming you forget how much they are suffering at the moment.”
Indonesian officials have put the death toll from the quake at 784, with 242 listed as missing.
At least 180,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged in the quake and landslides swept away entire villages in the hills.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the DEC Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam appeal should visit http://www.dec.org.uk or call 0370 60 60 900.
By Joe Sinclair
