Oncologist performs open heart surgery in street in Hungary

A surgeon of the National Oncology Institute performed an open heart surgery on a man in the street, thus saving the patient’s life, the institute said in a statement on Wednesday.

Zsolt Duboczki was working part time with the Hungarian air rescue service last Sunday, when their unit was alerted to a man in his 30s, who had been stabbed. On arrival at the scene it was obvious to the doctor that the patient had only a few minutes left and taking him to hospital could be fatal.

The surgeon opened up the patient’s chest “in the street, without a sterile operating theatre and any modern equipment” and stiched up a wound in his heart in just seven minutes, stabilising his condition, the statement said.

The institute noted that the procedure was unprecedented in Hungary.

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