Money MD

My good friend Owusu, the intrepid Ghanian, broke his leg playing soccer. The loud, sharp crack was heard by an old man sitting all the way up in the stadium seats, and occasionally I hear it again while lying in bed or brushing my teeth and wince. He received surgery in the local hospital, then shipped off to London to be with his family and recover. Once in a British hospital, the doctors examined his x-rays and, much to Owusu's horror, advised him that his Bosnian surgeon had fixed his leg at an unnatural angle and that he would require corrective surgery... after they re-break the leg. Ouch.

My friend Adnan is a diligent medical student at Sarajevo University. He is having trouble passing his anatomy exam, the highest hurdle in medical school. He told me with a sense of resigned frustration that it is simple for one to pay one's way to an MD. A student can slip the professor around 2000 Euros to pass a major exam. Adnan estimated that about 1 in 5 do so at least once. Not sure which half of the brain does what? No problem! Just run a few errands for the local mafia boss and you won't need either half.

This tells you a lot about the extent of corruption in this country. To be fair, there are many experienced surgeons in Bosnia, thanks (I suppose) to the war, and no one expected Owusu's operation to go wrong. But now, one can't help but wonder if his surgeon took a few of his exams under the table rather than on it.