[Surgery in the Third World].

Possibilities of surgical treatment in the Third World are inadequate. A surgeon meets serious problems in connection with administration, supplies, equipment, maintenance, patient priorities, superstition and culture. He must engage himself in these problems in order to achieve good surgical results. The pattern of disease differs somewhat from that experienced in the Western world. Surgical techniques and priorities have to be modified adjusted to suit the available resources. The education of surgeons should preferably be arranged in the home country, with possibilities for special study abroad. The surgeons in western countries could support surgeons who work under difficult conditions in the Third World and also serve there for a time. Primary health care depends on a minimum availability of surgical care.