Article submitted by Thomas B. Singh, Saints Alumnus
Dear Friends and SSC Alumni,
Three months ago, in an accident that happened as any accident could, I could have easily broken my neck or pelvis or skull; suffered multiple fractures; fallen into a coma; or even died – I shattered my left elbow. Any of the other alternative outcomes I mentioned was more probable than a badly broken left elbow.
But never (ever) underestimate the value of an elbow. I should tell you more about this, so that you’d better appreciate why I’m writing you about our SSC alumnus, Dr. Akintunde Watson, my orthopaedic surgeon. Suffice it to say that though I was extremely lucky, a shattered elbow changes life in ways that can only be imagined.
Dr. Watson – who was in the same cohort as Chris’ son, Phillip – performed surgery to reconstruct my elbow, using pins and maybe plates to put the pieces together. But that is only the result of what he did, as the real story is about the human resources, technological, and other constraints he had to overcome that made his surgery the miracle that it was. And let me not forget to mention that he had to source a part – think of it as a car part – that was not available at the hospital where the surgery was performed. Or that Dr. Watson, who seems to have to be in surgery all the time, had to create time to get me into surgery after my traumatic experience at GPHC.
As much as the surgery was complex, like a miracle that made elbow replacement surgeries much more appealing in other parts of the world, Dr. Watson’s exceptional post-surgery care was equally in the nature of the ‘unbelievable’ (especially in a Guyana context). Were I to begin to tell you about this, from the time I was in the recovery room to my visit with him yesterday, I would not want to stop – so I won’t start.
It was only yesterday, however, that I learnt that the gentleman-surgeon Dr. Akintunde Watson, had attended Saints. And that was when it all fell into place; and I could only tell him how proud he is making St. Stanislaus College, how proud I was that he attended SSC, how much he is a standard-bearer for our Aeterna Non Caduca motto, and how completely he does justice to it.
In this country where the true heroes go unnoticed, I thought I’d let you know of one of ours, as he is too unassuming, too humble, and far too busy dealing with surgeries and patients.
If fact, he’d probably respond to the foregoing with a simple, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”
Thomas
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Thomas B. Singh
Director
University of Guyana GREEN Institute & Senior Lecturer
Department of Economics
University of Guyana
