Maurice King’s marvellous medical book saved lives in Botswana
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Version 0 of 1. Christine Evans read the doctor’s obituary and recalls how his work proved invaluable in her early career in the 1960s I read with interest Maurice King’s obituary (Other lives, 15 November). He was a great man. He wrote an amazing book entitled Medical Care in Developing Countries, which was published 1966. I went to Botswana in 1968, aged 25, and took the book with me as diseases there were completely different – mainly infections, TB, bilharzia and snakebites. It was invaluable in a two-doctor hospital in Lobatse, and saved a few lives. The other book I took with me was Farquharson’s Textbook of Operative General Surgery, which was like a recipe book – ie, cut along the dotted line. You just needed to know your anatomy. I did my first tracheostomy reading from the book, held by a nurse, while doing it. Wonderful times. PS, I became a surgeon. Christine EvansLlanarmon-yn-Ial, Denbighshire Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. |