A Ghanaian doctor based in Perth, Australia, Dr. Kwasi Yeboah, made headlines after he performed roadside surgery without anaesthesia on a man involved in a road accident.
The accident victim was returning to Perth when the accident took place and was critically injured with multiple broken bones and a punctured lung.
Dr. Kwasi Yeboah, a registrar at the Royal Perth Hospital, happened upon the accident after missing his turn in search of mangoes at a mango farm and having come across the victim, he believed the only decision was to operate him right there if there was any chance of him surviving.
Dr. Yeboah narrated the incident:
I was going to find mangoes to buy on a mango farm and I think I missed my turning or I couldn’t find the sign so I kept driving north… It was chaotic and hard to describe as there were cars driving past and people pulling up as well and at a distance running across the road, I didn’t think he will make it. At that time the assessment was that he had a tension pneumothorax which is a life threatening condition and could be fatal. He was deteriorating before our eyes, his blood pressure was going down, his heart rate was rising, his oxygen level was dropping, and I thought he was going to die. Anything you do for a patient is a calculated risk and at that time it was a calculated risk that had to be made within seconds.
He was going to have a cardiac arrest so I said to him, mate I am going to do something which is going to hurt, but it will save your life, then he put his hand on my knee and said go for it.When he was ready for transfer back into the helicopter, he deteriorated again so he kept saying doc doc doc you’ve got to do something so I run back, and they took him out of the ambulance unto the road and then I had to open up his chest again through the old wound to let out the air trapped in his chest.
The victim after four months is still in a wheelchair and is expected to walk again.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana