the elective has started! i am placed at the national hospital of sri lanka in colombo doing a surgical placement at the moment. its definately different to any english hospital i have ever been to! air conditioning is totally unheard of and the only method of cooling the wards is several rickety fans dangling from the ceiling moving the warm aire around! ward rounds are especially enjoyable- standing round a poor patients bed amongst about 20 sri lankan medical students with beads of sweat slowly trickling down my spine! The surgical theatres are...well.....interesting. not sure what the NHS would have to say about them!