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An Orthopedic Surgeon Visits Peru

Mike Mitka

JAMA. 1999;282:419-420.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Iquitos, Peru—Eugene Pflum, MD, always wanted to travel the Amazon River to see the natural wonders and beauty of the rain forest.

Because of that dream, one morning in June the orthopedic surgeon found himself aboard a three-wheeled motorcycle taxi stuck in traffic, surrounded by noise and exhaust fumes, headed for a hospital in a South American city of 350,000 people. He was in Iquitos, which sits near the junction of several rivers that merge to form the Amazon, because of another of his wishes—to perform medical mission work.

"I've had a lifelong desire to see the Amazon and help people who needed care," the 55-year-old Pflum told the JAMA reporter who accompanied him. "I also wanted to provide knowledge to physicians who weren't lucky enough to be born in a country with all the equipment we have."

Eugene Pflum, MD (left), and Gaston Barnechea, MD, chat . . . [Full Text of this Article]