EALIING surgeon Sala Abdalla brought the season of goodwill to Africa by organising more than 100 free surgical procedures with the charity Operation International UK.
Sala travelled to Ghana with a group of clinical volunteers to help people with little or no access to surgical care.
The team, working alongside Ghanaian medics, performed 135 procedures, including hernia repairs, emergency surgery and a life-changing stoma reversal on an 11-year-old boy.
Sala, who set up Operation International UK several years ago, said: “It was awe-inspiring and humbling to see what local doctors and nurses managed to do for their patients with so little.
“We taught them about new systems and technologies, and they taught us about efficiency, how to improvise, and to keep calm and carry on.”
The charity is also funding a children’s playground. It will be named in memory of volunteer anaesthetist Craig Mastracci.
The charity will also be donating a CPAP machine, which delivers oxygen to the lungs of patients struggling to breathe, along with an intra-venous fluid warmer.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here