Malmö: Graduate School for Gunshot-Wound Surgeons

Now that the southern Swedish city of Malmö is rapidly becoming a third-world sinkhole, surgeons at the hospital in Malmö are gaining valuable experience in treating gunshot wounds. So, from the Swedish point of view, there’s a silver lining in all this unforeseen violence and mayhem accompanying the current wave of migration.

However, this article from Sveriges Radio is at pains to point out that Malmö’s not really all that bad, not if you compare it with places that really have a lot of gunfire — presumably meaning Mogadishu and Chicago, among other places.

Many thanks to Tania Groth for the translation:

Malmö — The more common shootings are, the better care for gunshot victims

“It has gone from a few to routine”

[Picture 1: Increased shootings have resulted in an improvement in the Malmö hospital’s reception of gunshot victims

Picture 2: Mikael Ekelund is responsible for emergency surgery at Malmö Hospital]

Doctors and health care professionals at Malmö Hospital have gained greater experience in receiving patients with gunshot wounds.

Since the beginning of the year, 22 people have been shot in Malmö. Six people have died and 16 were wounded, ranging from mild to lifelong injuries. Throughout last year, 31 people were arrested in the city, according to figures from Malmö police.

Even though shooting injuries are not new, receiving gunshot victims has become much more common in the hospital in recent years. When the hospital receives gunshot victims now, they are far more experienced.

“Awareness of the injuries has increased as it has gone from a few to a routine occurrence,” says Mikael Ekelund, the chief physician responsible for emergency services at Malmö Hospital.

Within the health care sector, shooting injuries are a part of what are called trauma injuries, that is, injuries caused by external violence.

However, despite the fact that the Malmö hospital handles many of these serious injuries, they are still relatively unusual compared with other injuries.

“Per surgeon, however, these gunshot injuries are a relatively rare matter,” says Mikael Ekelund.

The heavy expertise in shooting injuries is not found in Sweden however, but in countries where shooting is much more frequent.

“Sweden will hopefully not become a school for shooting injuries, but the number that do occur require us to gain the knowledge on how to handle it,” says Mikael Ekelund at Malmö Hospital.

3 thoughts on “Malmö: Graduate School for Gunshot-Wound Surgeons

  1. These doctors are Monty Python fans for sure because “they always look on the bright side of life”.

  2. Indeed, Bradford in Yorkshire has some of the best pediatric care in the UK; something to do with ethnic Pakistanis marrying their cousins.

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