Letters
A theme issue by, for, and about Africa
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7519.780 (Published 29 September 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:780
South Africa is still blighted by trauma
- Douglas M Bowley, honorary lecturer (dougbowley@aol.com),
- Euan J Dickson, registrar,
- Nigel Tai, honorary lecturer,
- Jacques Goosen, consultant,
- Kenneth D Boffard, professor of surgery
- Department of Surgery, Medical School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
EDITOR—Our hospital (close to the urban slum areas of central Johannesburg) has seen an increase in volumes of patients with multiple injuries. Between 1997 and 2004 the intake of patients requiring resuscitation for life threatening trauma at our unit increased by 56%. Penetrating injury now accounts for nearly 60% of this workload.
Substance abuse is a common factor and, in a recent …