An ordinary meeting of the Society was held on Wednesday 3rd November. The President was in the chair. The meetingheard from fivemedical students who had been in receipt of a Foott Memorial Bursary.
Sarah Hudson went to Mauritius. She said the population was 1,000,000 and the life expectancy was 70 for men and 77 for women. There is a high standard of health care in Mauritiuswith a low infant mortality. The healthcare system is similar to the NHS with patients starting in primary care. It is free at the point of access. She spent her time in the Sir Ramgoola National Hospital and she was surprised that it was very similar to SGH! She did 3 weeks O&G 3 of general medicine and 2 paediatrics. There is an obesity and diabetes crisis in Mauritius with the result that there is a high Caesarean section rate as a result of very high weight infants which meant she did lots of assisting. In internal medicine apart from the consequences of obesity and diabetes there was a high rate of endoscopy. A high attempted suicide rate using caustic soda and its consequences contributed to a considerable part of the workload.
The most important thing she learnt was that the diabetic epidemic therewas a window into what is going to happen elsewhere.
She thanked the Society for her bursary.
John MacFadyen went to Sri Lanka for 7 weeks. He chose it because it was a developing country coming out of a civil war. He wanted to experience a different health care system and develop important clinical skills. He went to a modern teaching hospital of 1500 beds and a brand new oncology hospital. He said that medicine is taught in English. He did 4 weeks medicine, 2 paediatric, and 1 oncology and forensic pathology. The main diseases he saw were diabetes, CVS disease with advanced clinical signs, dengue, malaria, and head and neck cancer. A lot of disease in men is a consequence of smoking whereas females don’t smoke or drink but chew Betel nut. There is also a high incidence of cervical and breast cancer. Serious RTAs are also frequent. On one occasion he was out in the street and saw an old lady knocked down by a car and crushed. There was no ambulance available. She was so light he carried her to the A&E. She survived. His consultant also arranged for him to give a talk to the local medical association on our health system. He thanked the Society for the bursary.
Jennie Saps ford spent 2 weeks at her local A&E before going to Tanzania. She went to a 500 bed hospital serving a population of 450,000. It covered 4 different tribal areas and Swahili was the local language though the hospital staff all spoke English. Fractures were common, especially tibia and fibula, and cardiac failure too. She divided her time between Maternity and internal medicine. There is a high incidence of ectopic pregnancy and because of the shortage of blood they perform auto-transfusion. In general there is a severe shortage of equipment. She also went to outreach clinics in local villages. In the general medical wards the care of the patient is the responsibility of the relatives. The whole family would be there children and all. TB, pneumonia and typhoid were especially common. She performed knee aspirations, pleural tapping, and insertingi/v lines. Patients presented late with severe illness resulting in many deaths. She thanked the Society for her bursary.
Ruth Hewitson has always wanted to do cardiothoracic surgery and arranged her elective at the Mount Sinai Medical Centre New York. She wanted to work with a female cardiac surgeon and a Google search found Joanna Chikwe, the first female cardiac surgeon in the USA, who trained in Oxford. A letter sorted out her elective. The day started at 0615 with a ward round with the resident MO. She attended lectures at 7.45 which included anatomy, pathology, anaesthetics, post-op care, cardiologyand surgical procedures.. She assisted pre-op assessments, which included comforting the relatives, before preparing the patients. She also attended morbid anatomy and mortality meetings which always finished with coffee and a bagel. Her day would not finish before midnight. She assisted at CABGs, valve repairs, heart transplants aortic aneurysms and pneumonectomies. She also took part in a Ross Procedure. She also has an unusual case to write up. She thanked the Society for her bursary.
Verity Jukes went to Kampala, Uganda, which is one of the world’s poorest countries. She went to the Mulago Hospital at the Mekerere University Medical School. She spent her time in paediatrics and O&G. Malaria, pneumonia, anaemia, malnutrition, TB, HIV, sickle cell disease, failure to thrive, and pyloric stenosis were all common. The hospital had open air wards and a special malnutrition unit. In maternity there was no noise. Patients were told off if they made a noise. It was considered that it would harm the baby. There were no painkillers either but lots of supporters. In cardiology there were no resources and patients were on the floor as well the beds.
She learnt a lot of medicine and physical signs. She thanked the Society for her bursary.
The President thanked all the speakers. David Rowen then thanked the Society on behalf of the University. He said these bursaries were important and helped the student to stand out from the others in difficult times.
A brief discussion from the judges awarded the Prize for the Best Presentation of their Elective to Ruth Hewitt.
There being no other business the meeting was closed at 10.20 pm