669 Before the Rain (1/2)

Ling Ran sat in front of the operating table with his eyes pressed against a two-head microscope. He was holding a needle holder in one hand and a pair of forceps in the other.

As usual, Zhang Anmin was his assistant. Zhang Anmin sat opposite Ling Ran and held the patient's palm with his left hand. Meanwhile, he held a pair of forceps with his left hand so that he could help Ling Ran out whenever it was necessary.

There were trays on both sides of the operating table. There were medical consumables on the trays. Some were used, and some were new. Compared to other major surgeries, the operating theater for finger replantation surgeries was considered shabby. Aside from the black and white two-head microscope that looked pretty modern, the shadowless lamp was the only thing that provided the doctors with a sense of security.

From an outsider's perspective, finger replantation surgeries were even scarier than many laparoscopic surgeries. This was because almost no internal tissues were exposed during laparoscopic surgeries, with the belly button and the small incisions made around it along with the sticks sticking out of it being the exception. Instead of direct observation, the doctors viewed the surgical field from the screen, so the visual impact was close to zero.

Things were different when it came to finger replantation surgery. Unlike other surgeries, doctors were not able to control the position of the surgical field during finger replantation surgery and had to keep adjusting the position of the patient's hand. Hence, the patient's entire palm was exposed along with the bloody tissues and bones, and it was very evident to those who looked at it that it was a human hand.

Even though doctors were very used to bloody sights like this, a palm with three severed fingers was still a pretty horrifying sight to them.

”Was it a work-related injury?” Kong Minghui, an attending physician from Donghuang Regional Hospital leaned toward a younger-looking doctor from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University who was standing near the door and asked in a low voice.

The doctor from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University had his gaze fixed on Ling Ran, and he did not even bother to look at Kong Minghui as she said, ”The patient was sent here from Yanjiao. He's a factory worker, and three of his fingers are mangled.”

”Was it a crush injury?”

”Yeah, he was sent to a smaller hospital, but our department director invited him over. He gets to go through the green channel. His medical insurance will be paying part of his bills, and the rest is covered by our hospital. His family members are really relieved.” As the doctor spoke, she blushed a little and continued, ”Doctor Ling is a nice person. Not only is he operating on the patient, but he also made sure that the patient's family members don't have to suffer from financial woes.”

When Kong Minghui heard what the other party said, he took a step backward to make a stand. He said, ”Shouldn't the factory owner be paying for work-related injuries like this?”

”Patients with severed fingers don't get much compensation. Besides, workers of legal factories are covered by medical insurance. Given the circumstances, the patient's family members are definitely trying their best to spend as little as possible.” The doctor paused for a moment and sized up Kong Minghui. She then continued, ”Stop being under the hallucination that you're better than Doctor Ling. You can't be compared to him at all.”

Kong Minghui did not really have a good temper. He immediately became indignant. ”I…”

”You're not an orthopedist, are you?” The doctor cut Kong Minghui off.

Kong Minghui did not know why she suddenly asked him this question. He said a little scornfully, ”I'm from the General Surgery Department.”

”That's sad. You probably chose your department when you were young and dumb.” The doctor giggled and continued before Kong Minghui could say anything, ”You probably don't understand what's going on right now. Doctor Ling's maneuvers are so excellent that an associate chief physician from our department decided to stay and watch the entire surgery after merely taking a glance.”

In the Orthopedics Department, associate chief physicians were a lot more skillful compared to attending physicians.

Orthopedic surgeries were direct and simple. This was exactly why associate chief physicians who worked in the Orthopedics Department had a lot more experience compared to the associate chief physicians working in other departments.

Kong Minghui recalled the conversation between the two doctors earlier and finally had a grasp of what was going on. He said, ”Doctor Ling is tremendously good at suturing blood vessels.”

”Hmm, you look like you do know something.” The orthopedist from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University teased Kong Minghui.

”It seems that even orthopedists need to be skillful nowadays. Life's not easy indeed.” Kong Minghui snorted a few times. He felt that he had come up with a nice retort.

The doctor from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University turned to glance at him. ”When you go home, you can search for the research papers written by Doctor Ling. Even though you're working in a regional hospital, you should pay attention to what's going on in the industry.”

After she said this, she took a few steps to the side to show Kong Minghui how much she did not want to talk to him.

…..

Kong Minghui returned to Donghuang Regional Hospital.

General surgeons could tease orthopedists by calling them carpenters and console themselves by believing that they were also contributing to the community when they dug feces out of their patients' intestines. However, the world favored the rich, and for doctors from all the other departments, it was a sad fact in life that orthopedists earned more than them. Why were orthopedists the only ones who got a visit from the God of Fortune?

Kong Minghui was more concerned about Ling Ran's skills. To put it more precisely, he was concerned about how his department director's surgery would go.

Kong Minghui was an attending physician in Associate Chief Physician Tai Xian's treatment group. If his department were to be divided into two departments with each of the associate chief physicians leading his own department, Kong Minghui would probably be working under Tai Xian. To him, this was theoretically a good thing. It meant that he had more chances of becoming an associate chief physician and that it would take a shorter time for him to do so.

However, if Xu Jinyi's surgery went well, he would be able to continue working for four or five years. If this were to happen, things would turn out extremely differently. Those rejoicing over Xu Jinyi's illness right now would end up suffering the most.

From what Kong Minghui could remember, Department Director Xu Jinyi was quite a harsh person. Even if Kong Minghui were to disregard other things, he could see from how the General Surgery Department of Donghuang Regional Hospital had not hired any new doctors from a few years that Xu Jinyi was trying to hoard all the money. It was to the point that all the resident doctors and attending physicians working under him were extremely tired right now. If it were not for the fact that there was an endless supply of medical interns and housemen, Kong Minghui would not have been able to take the workload.