Brawl victims pose a problem to plastic surgery unit

During an operation

Health authorities have expressed concern that the cost and  burden of re-joining  limbs seperated from the body in brawls is happening at the cost of accident victims.

Specialist surgeon in plastic surgery at the Colombo National Hospital Dr. Gayan Ekanayake said re-joining  a limb seperated from the body  with a sharp weapon takes between 12-15 hours and costs the government more than one million rupees. He pointed out that such cases  of assault with sharp weapons due to  personal fueds have been on the rise. 

Dr. Ekanayake said about twelve such surgeries were performed  during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. He pointed out that several individuals had their upper limbs hacked away during clashes. “This is a big drain in the time of our medical staff and government funds for medicare,  detracting seriously from resources earmarked to  provide emergency treatment to accident victims.

“When analysing the brawl injury cases, we have noticed that their behaviour patterns are very similar to the characters in  scenes of violence in some South Indian films screened in this country.”

“We have noticed that several incidents involving assault with a sharp weapon, resulting in severed limbs, were caused by minor issues that could have been settled amicably. Due to alcoholism, drug usage and poor education,  people try to settle issues with weapons instead of dialogue, and this constitues a burden on the country’s economy,” the doctor added.

He further said that the government should bring a degree of censorship or control regarding the Tamil and Malayalam films imported and screened here.

When the breadwinner of a family is badly injured by the breadwinner of another family during a quarrel, both families lose their main source of income and support as a result.

When medication and bandages earmarked to treat accident victims are spent on brawl victims instead, the medical staff are faced with great difficulties towards the end of the year.

 “At present the Plastic Surgery Unit of the Colombo National Hospital is functioning with a staff of  about twenty inlcluding doctors and nurses, and  if several cases with serious injuries are brought in on a given day, then  the staff would be in serious difficulty,” Dr. Gayan Ekanayaka said.

He further said  while the people all over the country were celebrating the New Year , the  Plastic Surgery Unit was busy  attending to cases of serious injury suffered due to drunken brawls.

Dr. Ekanayaka added that several surgeries were needed to attach a severed limb back to the body successfully.