Doctors are considered next to god in India and people strongly believe in that. Have you ever come across a doctor performing a surgery at an altitude of 16,000 feet?
In good news, Indian Army doctors posted on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) set an example by performing a successful appendix surgery of a soldier at an altitude of 16,000 feet.
Thanks to doctors who pulled off this operation. The doctors successfully removed an appendix of a soldier posted in Eastern Ladakh. Due to the harsh weather, the soldier couldn’t be shifted to the Army base so the doctors of the Forward Surgical Centre (FSC) performed the emergency surgery.
The surgery was carried out by a team of three doctors including a Lt Colonel, a Major and a Captain on the soldier.
“The surgical team from the field hospital performed an emergency surgery to remove the appendix at freezing temperatures at a height of 16,000 feet in a dug-in at a Forward Surgical Centre (FSC) in extreme conditions,” Army sources confirmed.
The surgery was conducted on October 28. Despite the adversities faced by the doctors in performing the surgery, the operation was successful and the patient is stable now, they informed.
This successful attempt is a big deal because high altitudes have low atmospheric pressure and low oxygen concentration. And all medical pieces of equipment are tested at sea atmosphere, so readings at high altitudes will be wrong and the patient has an increased risk for desaturation.
The forward areas of the Indian Army in Eastern Ladakh is one of the severest places to serve, mainly because of the harsh weather situations in the region. Lately, the deployment of the Indian Army in this area has been increased due to the border tensions between India and China since June this year.
