Chapter 88: Hashimoto Shiro’s Speculation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Every single patient who received surgery performed using the M-Tang technique in the Emergency Department could be found in the Hand Surgery Department’s rehabilitation room.

Because the Emergency Department just began using the M-Tang technique and did not have a complete rehabilitation system for those patients, they could only depend on the Hand Surgery Department. On the other hand, the patients also preferred the Hand Surgery Department’s spacious and bright rehabilitation room compared to the Emergency Department’s rehabilitation room—which had been converted from a storeroom.

The Hand Surgery Department’s rehabilitation room was even divided into many rooms according to the type and course of the injury of patients.

When Department Director Jin and the others arrived, they saw more than ten patients carrying out rehabilitation exercises in the room for patients with flexor tendon injuries.

Hashimoto Shiro crossed his arms and watched with interest.

“At least half of your patients will not be able to recover complete hand function.” Hashimoto Shiro made his judgement in a confident manner.

Wang Haiyang became unhappy when he heard the translation of what Hashimoto Shiro said. “How did you come to this conclusion without even conducting any tests?”

“It wouldn’t change anything even if those tests were to be carried out,” Hashimoto Shiro raised his chin haughtily and said, “However, you may convince me otherwise with the results of those tests.”

“There’s no need for that.” Of course Jin Xi would not let a doctor in his department go against a specialist from another country.

Besides, his judgement was similar to that of Hashimoto Shiro. He could determine which postoperative stage the patients were at just by looking at the stationary states of their hands. Then, he just had to compare their current performance to their stationary states. This was actually equivalent to a simple test.

You could already tell how outstanding Hashimoto Shiro was just by looking at good of a judgement he had.

On the other hand, Wang Haiyang sort of made a fool of himself.

Hashimoto Shiro watched the movements of the patients in the rehabilitation room. He then said, “Right now, the medical community of relatively modern countries and areas all agree on one thing: When it comes to hand surgery, especially complicated ones, the recovery of hand function should be the first consideration. All of you merely sutured the patients’ hands without being able to guarantee that they would be able to use their hands with ease. This is irresponsible.”

“So, you amputate all the fingers that you deem cannot be recovered [saved]?” Wang Haiyang was a doctor from the older generation and had always been contemptuous towards these kinds of theories.

Hashimoto Shiro nodded slightly and said, “It is an objective fact that there is a lack of medical resources. Only by performing the amputation of fingers that cannot regain function would we be able to save on medical resources and have doctors on standby to ensure that other patients receive the care they deserve.”

“Right now, we can already ensure that the patients get the care they deserve.”

“Is that so? From what I know, Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department often rejects the patients’ appeals for help, or transfer patients with minor injuries to other hospitals.”

Wang Haiyang was tongue-tied.

Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department had a great reputation in Changxi Province, and there were a lot of patients who traveled thousand of miles here to seek treatment. The department was naturally overwhelmed by the massive inflow of patients. Therefore, some patients whose injuries were not serious, or were not in accordance with Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department’s atlas of surgical procedures might be transferred to other hospitals. Some of them were also immediately denied treatment.

It was not the first time Jin Xi was asked such a question. He said calmly, “Dual referral is the general trend in China right now.”

Hashimoto Shiro exercised his short and thick neck, and he said, “If all of you follow the general trend of the world and increase your amputation rate, you might be able to further increase the patients’ degree of satisfaction.

“For patients, having all their body parts intact is as important as the functionality of those parts.” As he spoke, Wang Haiyang became indignant. “For the Chinese, there is more to the body part than their functionality. Besides, the fact that our amputation rate is low does not mean that our success rate is low.”

“A doctor’s energy is limited. Instead of spending six hours performing two unsuccessful cases of flexor tendon suturing, is it not better to spend four hours carrying out one case of successful flexor tendon suturing?” Hashimoto Shiro chuckled scornfully. He then quickly stopped smiling. He pointed ahead and asked, “Were all of these patients treated by that young doctor from your Emergency Department?”

Pan Hua knew Hashimoto Shiro’s habit. He coughed a few times, and once he retrieved the rehabilitation room’s record book, he said, “There are currently two patients in the rehabilitation room who were from the Emergency Department. The rest are from the Hand Surgery Department.”

“Let me guess.” Hashimoto Shiro pointed at the patients with his finger, as if he was doing an ‘eeny-meeny-miny-moe’.

Pan Hua knew about Hashimoto Shiro’s nasty sense of humor. He stood, unmoving.

Hashimoto Shiro had actually made a conclusion with his observation earlier. Right now, he was mostly just observing the expressions of the people around him.

As an associate professor of a medical university in Japan who was responsible for managing junior doctors, Hashimoto Shiro’s hobby was to use his sharp intuition to reveal the truth, and he loved acting like the doctors on those television shows who had extraordinary medical skills and sharp intuition.

After fantasizing happily that he was in a medical drama for three seconds, Hashimoto Shiro raised his head again. He pointed at the two patients at the leftmost and said, “Those two are the first ones who will be out of consideration for the patients from the Emergency Department.”

Hashimoto Shiro used the safest process of elimination. He pointed at the two patients who were doing rehabilitation exercises with his finger and said confidently with a smile, “If I’m not mistaken, an expert whose skills are comparable to that of Pan-kun performed their surgeries. Is it Department Director Jin Xi?”

Hashimoto Shiro paid attention to everyone’s expressions as he spoke.

This was his favourite part: to draw on his excellent medical skills to make a painstaking investigation and unveil the truth through deduction.

The interpreter told everyone what Hashimoto Shiro said with absolute accuracy.

Unexpectedly to him, Hashimoto Shiro saw that everyone who had an indifferent expression before started to smile very obviously.

“Why? Were their surgeries not carried out by Department Director Jin Xi?” Hashimoto Shiro could not help but look at Wang Haiyang. This was the only possible explanation, because he looked down on Wang Haiyang’s judgement just now, and was now praising his surgical skills. Hence…

“The two of them are patients of Ling Ran from the Emergency Department. They are the patients you mentioned who received surgery performed with the Emergency Department’s young doctor as the chief surgeon.” Department Director Jin Xi chuckled as he spoke. He then said, “I reckon that he would be very happy to hear your appraisal.”

Actually, Department Director Jin felt that he should not be smiling, but he could not help it.

Hashimoto Shiro’s expression immediately changed. He had played this type of guessing game for many years. There were times where he would make mistakes, but he had never made such an embarrassing blunder…

“Pan-kun, can we give them a test?” Hashimoto Shiro immediately changed the direction of the conversation and said, “Let’s do it using the Simple Test for Evaluating Hand Function (STEF).”

Compared to the hand function assessments often used by the Chinese, the difficulty of STEF often used by Hashimoto Shiro was higher.

It was a method invented by Kaneko Tsubasa from Japan, used to assess the movements of the patient’s hands and upper extremities. There were ten movements in total and was a very detailed assessment method.

In accordance with what Hashimoto Shiro said, Pan Hua went to fetch the box with all the examination tools. When he opened it, blocks of wood that looked like building blocks and plastic balls could be seen.

Pan Hua went to the two patients from the Emergency Department and explained the situation. He then asked the first patient to give the test a try.

Pan Hua prompted him from the side, “Please move the large balls in the right frame one by one to the left frame. The faster you do it, the higher your marks will be. Start on the count of three…”

He took out a stopwatch and laid out the form in front of him. He then started to count in a loud voice.

The patient finished moving all the large balls with agility. Extraordinary agility.

Hashimoto Shiro’s expression became solemn.

He then graduated from large balls to medium-sized ones, and then to large blocks of wood, medium blocks of wood, and large circular boards…

The patient who was at the third postoperative stage actually managed to carry on with the test all the way until the last item—metal rods.

Hashimoto Shiro watched as the patient inserted the metal rods one by one into the small circular red hole. He finally realized that he had been acting quite carelessly today. Those two patients’ scores were more than excellent.

Who could have expected that he would be wrong even by first choosing the two patients who were recovering the best.

“Just like what my teacher said, I don’t have the talent to become a comedy actor…” Hashimoto Shiro chuckled and said self-deprecatingly, “I should not have made such a bold judgement. I am truly sorry.”

The chief physicians from the Hand Surgery Department did not know how to react to this sudden Japanese-style apology.

To prevent their foreign friend from suffering humiliation, and with consideration for the matter of the relations between the two countries, Department Director Jin took the lead in showing understanding and approval.

The atmosphere of their conversation finally became normal. Soon, the door of the rehabilitation room was opened again.

Huo Congjun, Doctor Zhou, Ling Ran, Lu Wenbin, and a plain and ugly resident doctor walked in together, their mannerism imposing.

“Department Director Huo, Doctor Zhou, Doctor Ling,” Department Director Jin greeted them politely.

Hashimoto Shiro’s eyes brightened when he heard the translation. He quickly said, “Is Doctor Ling Ran, the one who knows how to use the M-Tang technique, here?”

“Yes.”

“Wait… don’t tell me. Let me guess.” Hashimoto Shiro was still being theatrical. He slowly swept his gaze past Huo Congjun, Doctor Zhou, Ling Ran, and Lu Wenbin’s faces. His gaze only lingered on Ling Ran’s face for a little longer than the others. Finally, he settled his gaze on the plain and ugly resident doctor’s face.

Hashimoto Shiro strode towards the plain and ugly resident doctor and cordially extended his hand. He said with a smile, “I reckon that you are Doctor Ling?”

“This is Doctor Ling.” Department Director Jin could not take it anymore and quickly pushed Ling Ran forward.

As Hashimoto Shiro looked at Ling Ran’s face and recalled the test they performed just now, he was lost in contemplation.

‘A young doctor with good medical skills and a handsome face. Which television series had such a doctor appeared in? How could there really be such a doctor? And for me to meet him…’

Hashimoto Shiro exercised his thick and short neck. He quietly withdrew the hand he extended just now and touched his coarse cheek. He then quickly lowered his hand.

After getting off the plane, he should have gone to the hotel and used a face mask. Hashimoto Shiro was extremely regretful.

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