Chapter 208: Pretense?

Ian took a look at the man who had been shot in his chest. He opened his shirt to see where exactly he had been shot. There were two bullets put through his chest, but the good part was that they were not in any critical position or anywhere near his organs. So, the soldier was safe for now. His protective gear had saved him. 

The soldier had lost some blood. So, he had to be given a transfusion. Ian started barking orders to the nurse. Before that, he summoned Kevin who was standing idly behind him. "Where are the medical equipment?"

"They are right here." Kevin pointed towards the loads of goods they had brought with them on the helicopter. At first, he had been skeptical about bringing these with them on the helicopter seeing such a huge load. He did not know why they had insisted on bringing it with them. But when the nurse opened the trunks, he saw many things that were necessary for good treatment. 

They had brought portable ventilators and ECGs, medical instruments, scrubs, medicines, ointments, syringes, and a lot of other things that would be necessary for them here.

There were still two more trunks that were place separate from the others. Even while they were transferring the trunks to and from the helicopter, Ian had asked Kevin to take care of those two especially. He wanted to find out what was in there and he got his answer when one of the nurses opened them. It was filled with loads and loads of blood bags. 

"Excuse me, would you please tell me your blood type?" Ian asked the soldier who was lying on the bed with blood trickling down his chest. Ian had to admire the man's will. Even though he had been shot twice, he had not winced even once. Ian knew how painful it was and he had to salute the man for his bravery. He was a true soldier.

"B positive." Ian sighed relief. He was glad that the man knew his blood type else it would take extra time to perform a blood test. 

"That's a great blood type. Just like you." Ian commented and the nurse immediately took out a blood bag for the soldier. "Sir, do you want me to give you anesthesia?"

The soldier shook his head. 

"Are you sure? This might be more painful. I'll give you anesthesia."

"I am fine." The man said. Though he looked like he was pain, his eyes were still smiling.

"Okay. If you say so. I'll be giving you a sedative. This will reduce the pain during the operation. You may even feel drowsy and you can even sleep comfortably. Are you fine with this?"

"Yes."

"Cool." Ian induced a sedative through his vein and waited for a few seconds. He then put on his surgical gloves and took the lancet to make a cut near one of the bullet shot area. As soon as he made the cut, blood started to seep out. The nurse then inserted the blood bag on the stand and the needle was inserted to his vein. Ian then sterilized the bullet hole with iodine. Since the bullet had not gone deep, he removed it with ease using a forceps. He then checked to see if there were any fragments left behind in his body. After that, he closed the cut.

Next, he attended to the second bullet wound and repeated the same steps. But this time, the bullet had penetrated a little too deep inside his body. So he had to be careful while removing it. More than half an hour had passed before he removed the second bullet. He closed all the cuts he had made and the nurse put the bandage on his chest. By then, the man was deep asleep.

Aria and Stuart had finished handling the two other men who had been shot in their arms and finally they could breathe properly. Seeing that their operation was done, the army surgeons came to them and thanked them for their help. Ian looked around the pavilion and saw the large crowd in there. Everybody had been put here irrespective of the seriousness of their wounds. This would not do. They had to do something about it.

Being a strict doctor, he had mild OCD and he expected things to be meticulous and systematic. Now that he saw the pavilion being flooded with injured soldiers, he couldn't control his desire to make things right.

"Sir, I have a suggestion to make."

"Yes?" The senior army surgeon asked him.

"We want to divide the wounded soldiers based on the seriousness of their wounds."

"What do you mean?"

"Sir, look around you. Everybody who is injured, be it mild or critical injury, is getting treated here and this is creating an unhealthy environment. I suggest we divide it based on the seriousness of their wounds."

"Please continue."

"People who are not being severely injured can be treated in one of the pavilions. The soldiers who are heavily wounded and need operation can be treated in another pavilion. Those who have already been treated can take rest in the last pavilion. This way we can avoid any septics and unhygienic situations."

"I agree. We were in a hurry when the war started. So, we started with our work without giving it much thought." What Ian had said was the truth. To perform an operation, the environment had to be clean and sanitized. Otherwise, the wound not heal properly and it would become more severe in the future.

"Not a problem sir. We can start following it from now on. Let the smallest pavilion be the operating room."

"Okay."

"Great." Ian then gave everybody instructions and they started to look at the other soldiers who were in the room. 

An hour or so had passed since Ian had finished with the operation when Ethan entered. He had come to check on the three soldiers who had been shot a few hours ago. He was pleasantly surprised seeing that all the ten doctors were inside working to their fullest. He had expected at least some of them to be taking rest. Never had he expected all of them there. He smiled to himself seeing the hardworking doctors.

They were nothing like he had imagined them to be, haughty or arrogant. Having worked at a multi-specialist hospital which had a lot of good facilities, it would be difficult to adapt to changes. Though they were working diligently now, that might not be the case later on. He had to wait and watch if they were true to their profession or was it all a pretense.