October 5, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 8, 1424

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PESHAWAR, Oct 4: A team of foreign plastic surgeons, currently visiting Peshawar, has urged the local doctors to treat patients through oral medication and avoid injections and high doses of antibiotics.

“We have examined over 700 patients — 400 in Peshawar and 300 in Buner district — where about 30 per cent of the patients, have been suffering from oxygen deficiency. Their condition is marked by polio-like problems and bone deformities,” said Dr Jock Ortwin Robert, who is leading a German team that arrived here on Sept 26 and will stay till Oct 13.

He said these children had developed bone deformities and defects in their legs, which the local people thought were natural. But, actually, these problems had been caused by the excessive use of antibiotics and injections, he added.

Dr Robert said he had been visiting Peshawar and Afghanistan since 1985 and had performed thousands of surgeries in both the countries.

“Of the total patients we examined here, about 90 would be operated upon. Priority would be accorded to children and the under-privileged people,” said the 66-year-old doctor who had been visiting poor countries from the platform of Interplast, a Frankfurt-based charity organization of 50 plastic surgeons.

Dr Robert said medicines worth Rs600,000 would be provided to the patients, whereas the cost of operations would be borne by the NWFP Leprosy, TB and Blinds Association.

Most of the children, women and aged people developed contractures (distortion of tissues) after burn injuries, but these people usually avoided treatment because of heavy cost, he said and added that his team had identified patients to be operated upon for paralysis and malformation of organs.

For patients who needed subsequent surgeries the team would again visit the city, Dr Robert said, adding that aged patients would be operated upon for tumours, carcinomas and malformation of organs.

For follow-ups visits, he said patients would be examined by local plastic surgeon and trauma specialist Dr Khaqan Jahangir. Before the operations all

the patients would be tested for hepatitis-B and C and HIV/AIDS, Dr Robert said.

He said operations would be conducted at a private hospital for which no fee would be charged from the patients. Dr Robert also said his team was planning to visit Peshawar twice a year to meet the needs of increasing number of patients needing reconstructive surgery.

In reply to a question, Dr Robert said he was willing to impart training to local surgeons in the field of plastic surgery. Dr Robert said so far he

had treated 20,000 patients in Afghanistan.

In reply to another question, he said both reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries were performed by plastic surgeons. “But we only do reconstructive surgery, whereas the cosmetic surgery was needed by the rich class to make them good-looking, which we do not do,” he added.