12 May 2011
A senior surgeon from Epsom and St Helier hospitals recently returned from a two-week mission to a North African warzone.
Mr Richard Field, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Elective Orthopaedic Centre at Epsom Hospital was based at Tataouine regional hospital, located near the Libyan border in southern Tunisia.
Volunteering for British medical aid agency Merlin, he helped to treat injured refugees who were victims of the civil war in neighbouring Libya.
Mr Field said: "In total, around 270,000 people from the Nafusa mountain region in western Libya fled to Tunisia when the fighting started. It was a mass exodus, and some towns and villages in that region were depopulated by up to ninety percent. Unsurprisingly, this puts immense pressure on local services, especially hospitals.
"Local clinicians are doing their very best, but a general lack of modern equipment has strained resources to breaking point. Assuming that all medical facilities around the Libyan border face the same issues, you begin to understand the scale of the emergency."
Additionally, the location of Tataouine meant that hospital staff often found themselves on the frontline, treating those caught up in the fighting.
Mr Field commented: "In terms of conflict trauma, we generally dealt with the aftermath of skirmishes - one or two hundred from each side engaged in small-arms fire-fights for a few hours, leaving perhaps four or five dead with others wounded. We treated everyone, regardless of what 'side' they were on."
Asked why he decided to make the journey, Mr Field said: "I had previously been given permission by the Trust to go to Haiti with Merlin but ultimately my services weren't needed.
"This time, a surgeon friend of mine had gone out to assess the situation at the border and called me. He asked if I could help, and I said I was delighted to.
"In the UK we are blessed with first-rate equipment, fantastic facilities and highly trained staff. Tataouine Hospital lacks the equipment and facilities we enjoy, but has a highly motivated and capable workforce who manage to make the best out of limited resources."
Mr Field has since drafted a detailed report outlining both the situation 'on the ground' and the immediate to medium-term requirements of the hospital as it deals with the consequences of the conflict. The report, commissioned by Merlin, has since been shared with a number of organisations, including the Department for International Development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organisation.
For more information about the work of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, which gave Mr Field permission to volunteer for the charity, visit www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk. Mr Richard Field is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and Director of Research at the Elective Orthopaedic Centre; find out more by visiting www.eoc.nhs.uk.
Medical Emergency Relief International (Merlin) is a charity specialising in international health, sending medical experts to the frontline of global emergencies. Learn about their work by visiting www.merlin.org.uk.
