There was a great documentary on the BBC about life in Tibet under China. Who after occupying the country had made some efforts to put services in place, to try and keep the people sweet and not revolting.
One of them was Drs, so most medium sized towns and villages got one or more trained as a sort of GP if rather less skilled and more generalised then you'd expect.
I think this would be what the level of medical skills an emdee would have.
A lot of basic stuff from hygenically removing gallstones and appendixes, under anaesthetic and in sanitary conditions or even taking out cataracts.
Not to mention even more basic stuff like antibiotics.
Basically the standard medical treatments that were around at the end of world war2. In a low tech future these skills would be like magic and highly prized. I mean the winter you didn't have an emdee and everyone in your village got a virus death toll could be a couple of dozen. The next year you've got an emdee the death toll drops to a couple of old folks.
I think emdees would end up having a strict rule of never getting involved, a kind of super Hippocratic oath.
Whilst even the craziest tribes would spare them.
Also with their medical skills a team could go undercover as emdees if they need to travel incognito.
|