Elective Posting At Sarawak General Hospital : Third Week

I was attached to Plastic Surgery Department during my third week. Before starting my first day there, I thought I would be able to see face lift, mole removal, pimple removal, botox treatment and collagen injections. After spending one week there, I realized what I thought I would see only exist in a private hospital. In a government hospital, I saw patients with cleft palate going for palatoplasty, cleft lip with congenital hydrocephalus, spina bifida occulta and hypoplastic left lung going for lip repair, curbuncle at left nasolabial and upper lip going for saucerization and left temporal basal cell carcinoma going for wide local excision and full thickness skin graft. Other than that, I saw patients with different degrees of burns. I learned how to manage a patient with burns and how to do different types of dressings from Sister Paat. On every Monday and Wednesday, there will be operations in the operation theatre. Diana and I followed the plastic surgeon into the operation theatre to watch the operations. Basically, a lip repair takes about an hour and a palatoplasty takes about two hours. There will be follow ups in the clinic every Thursday and Friday.


Outside the operation theatre


They have a radio in the operation theatre too


A hydrobath for patients with burns. The nurses will clean their wounds in the hydrobath.


Skin Fridge to keep tissue glues and skin grafts


Curbuncle on the right cheek