THE DOCTOR’S TOOL-KIT

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1925, Page 3

THE DOCTOR’S TOOL-KIT

AN EXPENSIVE OUTFIT. At a recent Congress of Radiology, held in London, Dr Thurston Holland said that thirty years ago his first eotnplet set of X-ray apparatus cost less than £3O. He added that, to-day the voting man starting to prateise radiology in all its branches would have to spend £3OOO on the necessary apparatus. The public fails to realise the heavy expenditure entailed upon the whole medical profession in the purchase of apparatus, says an English writer.

Take the dentist, for example. After spending » very large sum upon his education, the voting dentist who wishes to go into practice on his own account must not only pay rent for consulting and waiting rooms, blit also face a. bill of at least £3OO for the tools of his trade. Prices of the adjustable chair -for his patients vary between £3O and £l2O. He will require a dozen difl'e-rent pairs of forceps, each costing 16s ; while his drills, of which most dentists have scores, cost about £1 a dozen.

'l’lte electric drilling apparatus is a very costly business, and the workshop Sit which he makes his plates means the purchase of other expensive apparatus and material, to say nothing of the wages of an expert assistant. All these tilings have doubled or more itha,n doubled their price since the war, and constant renewals are necessary.

I'he Ktigeon’s intial expenses are not so heavy as those of the dentist, but the outfitting of an operating theatre means a large expenditure. An operating table is an elaborate piece of mechanism, very light, very strong, anil capable of being adjusted at nnv angle. KEEPING EYES IN ORDER .

Not only that, lint since a patient under anaesthetic must he kept warm, the latest operating tables are fitted with elaborate hot-water piping. Such tulles, with accessories ami heating apparatus, cost up to Cl5O a piece. The ophthnlmixt is another who has to delve deeply into his pocket to purchase the necessary apparatus. Even such a comparatively simple instrument as an ophthalmoscope for examining the eye costs from five to ten guineas. The instrument called the rotinoscopc is equally expensive, and the sighttesting apparatus with its arrangement of light runs away with a good deal of monev.

The operating fable used by an oculist costs at least C 75, and there are scalpels, knives, and all kinds of operating instruments which add to the heavy total. The average nphthalmist has probably £-100 to £SOO invested in the tools of his trade. VALUE OK THAT BLACK BAG.

The instruments used in the surgical and medical professions cannot ho dumped on a. shelf like, a carpenter’s tools. They must lie kept tree from germs, and germ-proof or a septic cabinets faced with plate glass are expensive pieces of furniture. In a recent list these are priced up to UK) a piece, while glass-fronted cabinets in wlieh drugs are kept run up to fifty guineas each.

Sterilisers, without which no operation is possible, mean money-, so do all the thousand and one different tools a surgeon must use, from saws and knives down to the tiny forceps used for securing cut veins and arteries.

New inventions are constantly (inning for ward, and as soon as the value of any of these, is proved the up-to-date operator must avail himscll ol such instruments. 'Pile value ol tie* instruments carried in the surgeon s small black bag is surprising. Such a bag is frequently insured for £IOO.