Chapter 384 - Observing Surgery
Chapter 384: Observing Surgery
Once Dou Hetong calmed down, Lu Wenbin had already entered the operating theater.
Dou Hetong shook his head. He did not want to leave, so he shamelessly waited around the area and watched everything through the window of the operating theater. He had decided that when he saw Ling Ran, he would then come in and confirm the matters of infection control.
For infection control practitioners, being shameless was not something new, and Dou Hetong could still somewhat accept it.
The operating theaters in the Emergency Medical Center were covered in blue walls and green drapes, only the microscopes were black in color.
The appearance of the surgical microscope looked similar to an old household table lamp. A metal stick connected the heavy microscope and adjustment device at the top, and it also connected the heavy base and wheels underneath.
Chief surgeons held the special right to control the surgical microscope. When they adjusted the microscope to somewhere that was comfortable to them, they could fix the base of the microscope by stepping on it. They did not really need to care about what kind of strange posture that the assistant should use to perform the surgery.
Although Dou Hetong graduated from specializing in clinical medicine, he had become a specialist in the Department of Infection Control for almost seven years. He could barely remember many surgery-related techniques. He also did not pay much attention to the ever-changing medical devices.
He just observed the visiting doctors, and he felt surprised.
Every doctor who came from other hospitals would have a tag to show their identity. Dou Hetong cast a glance around, and he saw hospital names like the Third People’s Hospital, the provincial hospital, Yiyuan County Hospital, and Echeng Hospital.
There were representatives from hospitals within and outside the province. There were also major hospitals as well as low-grade hospitals. A combination like this forced people to not dare to look down on the line-up in the operating theater. Instead, they would need to look up to them.
This was obviously a phenomenon that would happen naturally.
If this were a surgical demonstration held by a conference or an event in the country, the doctors who attended would usually have a similar specialist background, or they might be at the same position in their respective hospitals, or their positions might be higher than each other. In other words, young doctors from the provincial hospital might only bump into young doctors from Yiyuan County Hospital in some small events in the province, and the probability was very low.
When the background of the doctors was more complicated, it only meant that the possibility of the situation where such a scene where other doctors would come and watch the surgery would become even higher.
Anyone who paid attention to hospitals would know that it was very hard to make a doctor do something on their own!
The difficulty level was even higher when someone wanted to make a group of doctors do something on their own!
Dou Hetong glanced around before he found a friendly-looking young doctor and asked, “What are you watching?”
That doctor gazed at Dou Hetong curiously. When he noticed that there was no tag in front of Dou Hetong, he immediately realized that Dou Hetong was a doctor in Yun Hua Hospital. So, he smiled in a reserved manner. “The Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique.”
“Huh? Aren’t you watching an M-Tang technique?” Dou Hetong took a look at the operating theater again. Aside from the extremely good-looking Ling Ran, Lu Wenbin did not seem to be there.
The young doctor asked him back, “Are you here for the M-Tang technique? The M-Tang technique is going on next door.”
Dou Hetong then realized that Ling Ran had two surgeries up and running at the same time.
“So, Doctor Ling is going to finish the surgery here before going to the other side? I’ve just seen his assistant going over there…” Dou Hetong was full of questions.
“You’re talking about Lu Wenbin, right? The M-Tang technique surgeries Doctor Ling performs now is where he will let Lu Wenbin do the initial steps while he handles the crucial steps. Moreover, M-Tang technique surgeries can be completed very quickly. Doctor Ling only spends about 15 minutes every time he goes over there.” The young doctor here even knew Lu Wenbin’s name, so he was obviously not a newcomer.
Dou Hetong was slightly dizzy. He had been staying in Yun Hua Hospital for so many years, so how was it that he never knew that Yun Hua Hospital had become so attractive to the public?
Meanwhile, at the operating table, Ling Ran still had his head lowered, and he did not say anything.
All medical staff did not want to talk either.
It remained silent in the operating theater.
In the end, the circulating nurse who was on-duty could not help but ask in a low voice, “Doctor Ling, do you want to play some music here?”
“Play it, then.” Ling Ran did not have much interest in music. If he needed to choose, his favorite would be John Cage’s 4’33. However, his resistance to silence in the operating theater was quite high, so it did not really matter to him if there was any sound or not.
The people in the room felt more relaxed when they listened to the gentle music played by the circulating nurse.
“Do you want to learn this?” Dou Hetong took this chance to ask in a low voice. He had heard about the fame of the Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique, but he did not realize there would be so many people who came for it.
The young doctor who was asked showed a smile on the face. “It’s definitely great if I can learn it.”
“If you can’t?”
“I can still take a look at the body structure of our foreign friend here.” The young doctor who had been asked chuckled.
When Dou Hetong heard this, he could not help but look at the operating table. It was only at that moment that he realized that the patient’s body, which had been exposed through the drape, was extraordinarily fair.
Dou Hetong could not help but ask, “Is he a Westerner?”
“Yes, American,” the young doctor said.
“Do Americans also come to our hospital for treatment?” Dou Hetong voice was a bit loud and attracted the attention of a few people.
Dou Hetong coughed, and he shamelessly continued to smile.
“Americans are also humans, right? They have to see doctors too, don’t they?” A doctor by the side who was about the age of an attending physician lowered his voice and said.
“If Americans came over to China, they will not be covered by medical insurance, right?”
The attending physician nearly laughed out loud, “When we perform one Achilles tendon repair, it doesn’t even cost 10,000 RMB, which is less than 2,000 USD. The amount isn’t even enough for his lousy medical insurance to cover it.”
Dou Hetong was stunned. “How about the transportation and accommodation fee?”
“This is a sports medicine-related surgery. If it is performed in the US, the starting cost will be at least 300,000 USD.” The attending physician looked at Dou Hetong and said, “The internationalization of medical treatment isn’t a joke. How expensive can the flight ticket and hotel fee be when compared to this?”
At this time, more people who looked serious looked over them.
Dou Hetong felt that it was no longer appropriate for him to say anything, so he could only stare blankly at the American’s fair legs on the operating table.
This was the first time for Ling Ran to cut an American leg as well. If it was explained using data, the length of this man’s Achilles tendon was 7.87 inches, and it was considered quite good.
However, considering the fact that this man had always been a long-distance runner, having an Achilles tendon that was 7.87 inches long could only be said to be quite normal.
In fact, the international patients Ling Ran had come into contact recently were all athletes and sports fans. Liu Weichen had obtained good results in his competition, the South African crybaby had joined the rugby team and played a good game. This proved Ling Ran’s capability to a certain extent.
Although Ling Ran was still a cheaper solution in the international medical community, he was still at least a solution.
If there was really a name list of the people who could cure certain injuries and illnesses in the international medical community, the number of surgeons in China who could be listed in it would still be very low.
This had to be credited to the sports-medicine technique Ling Ran mastered. Microsurgery was known as hard labor for all doctors in any country. The surgeons had to be very meticulous, but they only received normal pay.
There were very few doctors who would eventually reach the level where they could diagnose professional athletes if they took this path.
But the difference between those who could and those who could not would just be the difference between the abilities of a normal person and a professional athlete. A professional sports medicine specialist who was not that famous would still be of a higher level than a normal microsurgeon.
The American who lay on the operating table chose Ling Ran as that was the price he could afford.
If they compared the current price for international treatment, only Ling Ran could make sure that the athletes could retain the functionality of their Achilles tendon, and the cost for it would only be tens of thousands of USD.
“Blood loss level?” Ling Ran tilted his head to the side and asked. The audience in the operating theater became silent.
“Fifty-six.” Yu Yuan worked as the assistant. She moved her eyes away from the ocular lens and read the number shown on the monitor.
“Okay.” This was Ling Ran only reply before he continued operating on the patient.
All gazes were focused on the screen before them.
The operating field in the microscope was shown on the screen, but in a surgery like this, the chief surgeons would always look straight into the microscope.
“He managed to avoid all blood vessels.”
“Amazing!”
“The Zhu-Ling Achilles repair technique really requires a lot of attention to detail, huh?”
The doctors who were on the spot observed quietly, and they fell into deep thought.
For senior doctors, microsurgeries might not be a good way for development. However, for local hospitals, especially hospitals which were below tertiary grade, microsurgeries would be their life-savers.
As of current, most of the tertiary Grade B hospitals or secondary Grade B hospitals relied on finger replantations and Achille tendon repairs to survive.
Those surgeries that needed less work, had a good reputation and could earn the surgeons big buckets of money were all monopolized by large-scale tertiary Grade A hospitals. The patients would also consciously opt for large-scale hospitals for treatment.
If small-scale hospitals could not get any patients, the doctors would either have to perform non-disease related surgeries, such as circumcisions that did not require any surgical indication, or they would have to perform the hard labor that large-scale hospitals were unwilling to do.
The struggles of surgeons were not any lesser than patients when it came to survival.
“You’ll do the remaining parts.” Ling Ran completed the suture for the Achilles tendon, then he habitually passed the skin suturing part to the assistant.
Yu Yuan went to stand at Ling Ran’s position in a flurry of motion. She adjusted the height again before she focused her attention and started suturing the skin.
Her talents in surgery were limited, but her skill had now become extraordinarily stable after she had persevered and practice continuously.
When Ling Ran left, the doctors who surrounded the operating table to watch the surgery also left the operating theater with a loud clatter.
Dou Hetong followed the flow of the crowd with a dazed mind. Soon, he was pushed into the operating theater next door.
At this time, Lu Wenbin had completely separated the flexor tendon of the patient who was to receive the M-Tang technique surgery.
Ling Ran, who had washed his hands again before he went to the operating table, checked through the results. Then, he scooped out the patient’s flexor tendon with his hand, and with a series of maneuvers, he announced the completion of the surgery.
Then, Ling Ran entered the operating theater next door.
Dou Hetong still followed with a dazed mind.
The operation this time was another Achilles tendon repair, but this time, Ling Ran worked together with Ma Yanlin from the Orthopedics Department.
Dou Hetong felt tired when the light of the shadowless lamp shone on him, so he could not help but ask the people around him, “How long do you all plan to observe?”
“There aren’t many more surgeries we can observe. Doctor Ling is not coming for surgery tomorrow.” The doctor who answered was from Shanghai. There was a sense of urgency in his voice as if with each surgery he observed, the number of surgeries he could continue to observe would fall.
Dou Hetong felt that the situation was slightly strange, and he looked at his tag. He said, “You should have many other chances to observe surgeries, right?”
“That really depends. Wei Jiayou is from Shanghai. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University, and he is known as the leader among the young generation. He ranked in the Top Ten Excellent Medical Professionals Below 35. But if you want to observe his surgery, you have to book an appointment first, and you can only book one surgery. It’s not as straightforward as it is here.”
Dou Hetong was speechless.
The doctor from Shanghai chuckled. He took out a bottle of Red Bull Extra and shook it before he said, “You can watch as many surgeries as you want. Wei Jiayou used to have his surgeries open to the public, but now, he can’t handle it. So…. It’s the most comfortable with Doctor Ling right now.”