A St Andrews surgeon has paid tribute to all the people from Tayside and Fife who helped a tiny burns unit in Africa reach its 10th year.
Retired plastic surgeon Arthur Morris who spent many years treating patients at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee has made several trips to Africa over the last decade, helping to establish the burns unit at Kumasi in Ghana.
He persuaded a number of his colleagues to volunteer at the unit during holidays from posts at Ninewells and elsewhere. The effort has also been massively supported financially by Rotary Clubs in Dundee, Fife and the east of Scotland.
“They raised about £100,000 initially to help us get the unit established,” said Mr Morris. “I would like to say thank you to everybody who did fund-raising and let them know the burns unit is still going strong.
“It’s now reached its 10th anniversary. In that time the little burns unit we started has treated over 1500 patients.
“Their recovery rate has improved tremendously. That little start has made a tremendous difference.”
The eight-bed unit was based on what was a veranda at the hospital in Kumasi.
Initially Mr Morris and his volunteer colleagues treated patients in far from ideal circumstances that would not be acceptable for the NHS. However, there was a great need among locals and patients were prepared to queue for treatment.
“Before the burns unit was created people just turned up and waited in a busy accident and emergency department,” said Mr Morris.Educational linksNot only did the embryonic burns unit get support from Scottish medical volunteers but educational links were made to ensure home-grown talent could be nurtured and eventually make the unit sustainable with its own staff.
Ghanaian nurses have visited Ninewells over the years and spent time watching, learning and taking skills back to the Kumasi unit. The unit now boasts three native plastic surgeons.
Regular conferences are also held, where good practice and new developments in the speciality can be shared.
Mr Morris and his wife Vicki were due to leave their home in St Andrews next week to attend a conference in Ghana but the unrest in Egypt has put paid to that.
The conference was organised by the Mediterranean Burns Council, part of the World Health Organisation, and was due to have a large delegation of Egyptians.
“The Ghana trip has been cancelled because Egypt is having problems,” said a disappointed Mr Morris.
He and his colleagues have taken steps to ensure continuing support for the Kumasi unit.
Their efforts previously came under the banner of the International Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Ghana Project. The Kumasi unit was one part of a wider project that aimed to improve burns care and plastic surgery in Ghana.
“We have relaunched as ReSurge Africa,” said Mr Morris. “The BBC journalist Sally McNair is the new chairman.”
To find out more about the work of ReSurge Africa visit its website.