The years have shown that previous teaching had paid off.
Law Kwa and Etamwe now do at least five hernia repairs a
week. Spinal anaesthetics are routinely carried out. Two
amputations were performed before David returned - the call for these, much reduced since IRC now pays for primary
management of land mine injuries at the local Thai hospital. The steady stream of abscesses, fractures, work injuries and tuberculosis in myriad forms continues. It seems that cases of malignancy and congenital problems in children are increasing. Because of the lack of funds some are triaged, some deferred and a few we manage to get to the local hospital and on to the more sophisticated treatment available in Chang Mai. We have had a number of visiting doctors ( see Visitors ) - including Dr John Toye. The result of his second visit: Law Kwa and Etamwe are now able to take grafts and apply them, a huge advance in the care of the many burns and skin loss from infection that we see there. The new autoclave, the oximeter, the new air conditioner in the operating room made a great difference. The leaking roof has been replaced with a sound one with welcome skylights: the crumbling east wall has been replaced, gaining us six more feet. But best of
all, the medics bamboo 'temporary' sleeping and eating
quarters is no longer and they now have a proper place to live.

We have had an excellent group of medics in training this
year. They had all had previous experience with the Brigades and were older. They came for a six months 'refresher' from Law Kwa, Etamwe, Billy Htoo and David too! - though apart from clinical work, our best time was the hilarious hour at 2 p.m. every day - the English Class - with topics, ' could and should', makeup stories and singing Beatle Songs, which always brought a crowd of open-mouthed amazed patients to our door.