Paper clip helps in surgery

Most conventional disposable surgical devices that follow international standards are expensive. Not to be daunted by this, Indian surgeons have succeeded in inventing a variety of cheaper, indigenous methods to perform surgeries.

According to a paper in the ‘Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery’, Dr.Waknis, a Pune-based surgeon, used the humble steel paper clip to hold a skin flap in place during an operation. The mandatory Raney clip, which is generally prescribed, costs Rs 40,000 a box and is usually hard to come by in India. Dr. Waknis’s method substantially brings down the cost of the surgery for a person with limited means.

The journal also lists other innovative methods to overcome prohibitive costs of surgery and medical care, like using honey from beehives on neem trees to help wounds to heal faster than the conventional betadine.

Of course, as Dr. Satish Shukla, onco-surgeon based in Indore and President of the Association of Surgeons of India (ASI), cautions, ‘As long as you follow basic principles of sterilisation and operative technique and provide good post-op care, it is safe to use low-cost substitutes.’