DOCTORS blame alcohol-fuelled violence for a doubling in the number of severe facial injuries requiring surgery during the past year.
As police launch Operation Unite in the state's party zones tonight, Queensland's leading facial reconstruction surgeons are reeling from the carnage in
hospital waiting rooms.
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital maxillo-facial surgeons – who spend much of their time operating on patients with injuries caused by punches, kicks to
the head, falls and car crashes – treated 62 such cases in May, compared with 29 in June, 2008. Between 2005 and 2008, facial trauma cases at the hospital
rose 30 per cent a year, far ahead of population
RBWH surgeon Anthony Lynham blamed the huge spike on "alcohol, alcohol and alcohol" ahead of the unprecedented police blitz on booze-fuelled violence.
"Every Monday morning I see a waiting room overflowing, with people sitting in the corridor outside," he said.
Dr Lynham said the massive increase in workload for the surgeons was blowing out waiting times for elective surgery.
"Routinely, other cases . . . are cancelled and placed back on waiting lists to accommodate this mounting trauma load," Dr Lynham said.
Royal Australian College of Surgeons' trauma committee chairman Daryl Wall said changes in how young people socialised were partly responsible: "One of
the things is the sheer number of people who do go out after 10 o'clock at night."
His views were backed by Dr Lynham.
Both called for a 2am nightclub curfew.
Dr Lynham would also like to see better access to public transport at night and an increase in taxi fares to encourage more cab drivers to work after midnight.
"We need to get people out of the CBD so they're not encouraged to hang around drunk and fight," he said.
Issued by Courier Mail December 11th 2009
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26469561-952,00.html
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