ABOUT GENERAL SURGEONS

As the march of medical science advanced into the realms of high technology, pills, potions and prevention - general surgeons got left behind. The appearance of the operating endoscope is just the golden technological opportunity that this hard pressed group of medical specialists was waiting for. Once more in the spotlight each day, they redefine the role of all the traditional intra abdominal procedures. Each passing week sees an old technique succumb to the advancing tide of endoscopic innovation. Gall bladders, hernias, appendixes and even the resection of cancerous lengths of large bowel are all attempted by the general surgeon's latest technological toy.

Whilst it is fair to say that these general surgical techniques are indeed an advance on the abdominal search and destroy operations of old, there is still a fly in the surgeons’ philosophical ointment. The removal of a gall bladder may be beneficial for the patient; but it does nothing for the gall bladder. The same can be said about appendixes and uteruses which Australian surgeons remove at rates almost unmatched by any other corresponding group of health professionals any where in the world. If today, surgery is still a necessary evil, let us not forget that in terms of treatment resorting to the knife means that health promotion still has a long way to go.

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GENERAL HEALTH