12. The First Surgical Operation
Oct 13, 2004
Surgical operations were unheard of in Siam until American physician
and missionary Dr Dan Beach Bradley arrived in Bangkok in July,
1835. The following month, on August 27, he performed surgery –
without the benefit of anaesthetic – on the forehead of a Chinese
labourer with a benign tumour. The operation was a success and Bradley
received admiring applause. The surgeon was henceforth known as
“the very smart doctor from America”.
On January 13, 1837, a cannon exploded at a temple fair at Wat
Prayoon in Thon Buri, killing eight people and injuring many more.
One of the wounded was sent to Bradley, who amputated his right
arm at the shoulder. Later that year, he spent almost an entire
day extracting a man's molar.
In his book “Siam Then”, Bradley recalls that one of his first
medical tasks after arriving in Bangkok was treating slaves of the
King who were sick with cholera, smallpox and other diseases caused
by unhealthy living conditions. The doctor complained that he could
do little in the long term because the royal court ignored his pleas
to improve the slaves’ lot.
He later opened a small clinic in his house and within a few months
had treated some 3,500 patients, ranging in age from 10 to 100.
Bradley recorded in his journal 180 illnesses among the Siamese,
with skin problems the most prevalent, followed by eye ailments,
especially cataracts.
Bradley's reputation as a great doctor spread across the country.
On November 10, 1836, a Buddhist monk from Sukhothai brought his
brother, who had been blinded by infection and five other monks
suffering from cataracts to see the doctor. He performed operations
on all of them.
In treating the cataracts, it is believed that Dr Bradley employed
a cuttingedge method for the time, “extracapsular extraction”, which
had just been invented by French ophthalmologist Dr Daviel.
Bradley wrote that his medical fees were fruit and food. His single
largest payment took the form of 45 buckets of rice from Chaophraya
Polathep, another of the many cataract sufferers who was fortunate
enough to meet the good Dr Bradley.
Nithinand Yorsaengrat
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