Have Scalpel: Will Travel. Memoirs of an Older Surgeon

The autobiography of the younger son of an Australian poor rural family. Able by hard study and earning scholarships, becomes a surgeon at the age of 27 Once graduated, he relocates into the Ethiopian countryside in an area only recently open to westerners where he is the only surgeon for millions of people. He rapidly gains surgical experience that extends from “top to toe”. Occasionally there is another doctor in the compound but for many years no other specialists. As well as a gaining a vast surgical experience he survives through smallpox, cholera, meningitis and many other epidemics. Generally the sole medical practitioner but fortunately has a team of committed and dedicated ancillary health workers. Some of the staff are expatriate but most are trained on-site. Later he transferred from missionary hospitals to work with the government. He retired aged 78.