Fractured spine

The day before yesterday 3 Belgian medical students who were working in Rwanda were visiting the local game park. Their careless driver reversed the vehicle on the edge of a volcanic crater and they rolled over 7 times. Due to the lack of seat belts the girls were thrown about, and two sustained neck injuries. One broke her neck, but despite an unstable fracture her spinal cord was intact. I was operating when one girl came in for suturing.

Kagando hospital has collars, so we could support the neck of the girl with a fracture. We put them up for the night in our home (2 of them on the floor), which eased their pain and shock. We received numerous international phone calls to arrange their care and travel. Next day we slowly drove 30 miles to the airstrip in Kasese, where a small plane came in and air-lifted them to Nairobi for X-ray scans and advice.