If doctors are to be asked to repair only hernias all day long, their jobs will become mundane, and good-quality students will be deterred from learning medicine.
Among the patients arriving on the river bank to have their cataracts removed and their hernias fixed at the new hospital is a pregnant woman who is bleeding alarmingly.
They can get hernias at the site of incision, as well as "dumping" syndrome, where they get physically ill, nauseous and sweaty if they eat foods high in fat or sugar.