I am a surgical trainee in Australia, and I can assure your readers that the use of mobile phones in operating theatres is both acceptable and widespread. How would you feel if you were the patient and the junior surgeon found something unusual but did not call in a senior colleague? Or how would you react if your child fell ill, but your surgeon was in theatre and could not be contacted? Appropriate mobile-phone use facilitates communication within the medical profession and therefore facilitates good medical care. The Hong Kong public should not lend themselves to histrionics over this issue. Dr RHEA LIANG Sydney, Australia
