DAUSA Med Mission Doctor is Research Presentor in Germany
Sat, September 27, 2008 5:04 am
The Chuuk State Government thru Gov. Wesley Simina and Lt. Gov. Johnson Elimo together with the FSM National Government under Secretary of Health Dr. Vita Skilling in a collaborative effort has confirmed that it has sent two prominent surgeons in the Western Pacific to the prestigious world conference :EHRLICH II –2nd World Conference on Magic Bullets Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Prize Award to Paul Ehrlich, Nürnberg, Germany on October 3-5, 2008.
Dr. Julius Caesar “Jojo” Arsenal , a pioneer volunteer of the DAUSA Medical Mission, currently chief surgeon and Dr. Kennedy “Ken” Remit , chief of staff / co-surgeon both based in Chuuk State Hospital were sent to represent the country of FSM wherein they are invited as an oral RESEARCH paper presentor in the said prestigious conference .
The research paper they wrote about slingshot injuries “filippin” to the heart in Chuuk were already presented before an audience in the Pacific Basin Medical Association Conference in 2005 and in Pacific Island Surgical Association in 2006.
Lately this research paper was presented before the officers , men and women of the USNS MERCY Hospital Ship in “Truk Lagoon “ on August 31, 2008 in which both of them were commended for their humanitarian works under extreme working conditions .
There were a total of 4,550 research paper entries around the world that were submitted to the prestigious conference and only 30 research papers around the world that were invited to present including this research paper from Chuuk State Hospital
The letter of invitation by Professor Dr. Fritz Sorgel , the conference chairman mentioned that to present at this prestigious conference will certainly represent the country before a global audience and it will add new information in serving the country’s needs in treating various diseases . Also the conference commemorates the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Dr. Paul Erhlich one of Germany’s foremost researchers .
Little was known in the entire Western Pacific that all these years from 1999 onward today these surgeons at Chuuk State Hospital were performing open –heart surgery for emergency trauma cases despite limited availability of surgical equipments/ facility and poor working hospital conditions . They admit they perform the procedure by heart in order to treat and save lives of Chuukese people as so goes
their motto : Everybody Deserves to Live “ . All of them were admitted at the Surgical Intensive Care Unit in the Surgical Ward of the said Hospital a fter surgery , the first SICU / critical care unit in the FSM that has been existent for the past 8 years now that save a lot of lives.
Their research paper was entitled :CARDIAC TAMPONADE SECONDARY TO SLINGSHOT METAL DART : A RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW OF CASES IN CHUUK with the following AUTHORS, Julius Caesar Arsenal M.D. ; Kennedy Remit M.O. ; Yoster Yichiro M.O. It depicts the realities of island violence is this part of the world that is still unattended to despite the laws enacted and implementing rules enforced in which traditional tribal ways and values still persist. From the period July 1999 to July 2005 there were a total of 353 patients treated at Chuuk State Hospital for Impalement injuries secondary to slingshot metal dart in different parts of the body . The breakdown of statistics are as follows ; Head / Face – 22 (6.23 %) ; Neck 29 (8.21 %) ; Upper Extremity- 114 (32.2 %) ; Chest –50 (14.16%) ; Cardiac– 7 (1.98 %); Abdomen- 40 ( 11.33 %) and Lower Extremity –91 (25.77 %).
As of August 2008,, there were a total of 583 cases of slingshot with 5 more cases of injuries to the heart during the succeeding 3 year period and all patients that were operated went home alive.
Penetrating cardiac wounds especially those on the anterior surface of the heart, presents a major challenge to the trauma surgeon. Surgical treatment of traumatic cardiac injuries requires knowledge
of multiple approaches, extensive surgical skills and operativeinterventions .
In Chuuk these slingshot metal darts were popularly called “Fillipin “ in reference to the Filipino carpenters who taught them wayback in the 70’s .It is more rampant in the islands around the lagoon especially the big island of Tol.
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