Image:Uganda cesarean section.gif

From http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/cesarean_3.html. Caption states "Successful Cesarean section performed by indigenous healers in en:Kahura, en:Uganda. As observed by R. W. Felkin in 1879."

Further detail from the source page: "While Barry applied Western surgical techniques, nineteenth-century travelers in Africa reported instances of indigenous people successfully carrying out the procedure with their own medical practices. In 1879, for example, one British traveller, R.W. Felkin, witnessed cesarean section performed by Ugandans. The healer used banana wine to semi-intoxicate the woman and to cleanse his hands and her abdomen prior to surgery. He used a midline incision and applied cautery to minimize hemorrhaging. He massaged the uterus to make it contract but did not suture it; the abdominal wound was pinned with iron needles and dressed with a paste prepared from roots. The patient recovered well, and Felkin concluded that this technique was well-developed and had clearly been employed for a long time. Similar reports come from Rwanda, where botanical preparations were also used to anesthetize the patient and promote wound healing."

Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here.

2005-02-08 (original upload date)

Original uploader was BanyanTree at en.wikipedia

PD-USGOV-HHS-NIH.