Scrubbing in virtually: could the pandemic change surgery?
Telemedicine has become a feature of the pandemic - even for surgery - with one platform reporting an eight fold increase in users this year
11 December 2020 • 8:00am
On the screen, an ultrasound picture flicks up. It reminds me of pregnancy scans, the miraculous moment when black and white fuzz coalesces, unbelievably, into the shape of a foetus.
What I m watching now is almost as miraculous.
It is a live image from the National University Hospital Center in Cotonou, Benin, where surgeon Gilles Natchagande is preparing to operate on a 46-year old woman who has kidney stones.