Scots surgeon's 'heartbreaking' work saving lives in Malawi after deadly cyclone
dailyrecord.co.ukA Scottish surgeon raced to Malawi to treat the wounded after the country was battered by Cyclone Freddy.Aid worker Andy Kent is part of the UK Emergency Medical Team (EMT) deployed to the impoverished African nation through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office as part of the international response to the disaster.
Devastating flooding caused by Cyclone Freddy has displaced an estimated 183,000 people across Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar – killing more than 500 people.Former military medic Andy – now an orthopaedic surgeon based at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness – told of the challenges he’s faced treating casualties at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre in southern Malawi.He said: “A lot of the orthopaedic injuries we are treating are people whose houses have fallen in on them due to the flooding.
The injuries we are seeing are mainly lower limb long-bone fractures – complicated injuries where you have open fractures with bones sticking out.“With the wounds and bone exposed, the risk of infection is significant, especially in a country where the risk of infection is already high.
Sadly, a lot of people have been swept away and drowned before they’ve managed to get to higher ground."If you’ve broken an arm or leg and get washed away, you cannot swim and will drown.
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