Mersey School of Anaesthesia makes pioneering five-year funding award to help train doctors in Nepal

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The Mersey School of Anaesthesia (MSA) has announced a five-year funding donation for the first time – to benefit doctors helping Nepal recover from the devastating earthquakes.

Dr Shambhu Acharya (left) with Dr Tushar Dixit

The £5,000 donation to Health Exchange Nepal (HEXN), a UK-based charity, will pay for training programmes for anaesthetists in the Himalayan country.

Nepal’s infrastructure was badly damaged by an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale in 2015, which caused the deaths of 9,000 people and injured more than 20,000 others, with a massive impact on the country’s health system.

Dr Shambhu Acharya of HEXN, who also works as an anaesthetist at Aintree University Hospital, welcomed the donation from the MSA, the first of its kind which the organisation has made.

Dr Acharya said: “This extremely generous support will enable us to provide additional education and training for doctors in Nepal. It will make a tremendous difference to the care which they can offer their patients.

“Knowing that we have an ongoing funding stream from the MSA enables us to plan well ahead, which is very good news indeed. We are incredibly grateful to the MSA.”

Dr Tushar Dixit, Associate Director of MSA and Consultant Anaesthetist at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospital said “MSA has supported many educational activities related to Anaesthesia within Merseyside for many years. For the first time, MSA is able to provide continuous financial support to improve education and training of doctors in anaesthesiology in Nepal and support HEXN in their commendable work. We feel very fortunate to be associated with HEXN in this noble cause of nation re-building.

 

Top Doctors Praise Scouse Fundraisers as Nepal Earthquake Appeal Hits £100,000 Target

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Leading doctors have praised the “amazing kindness” of Liverpudlians as a fundraising appeal for people in Nepal whose lives were devastated by earthquakes hits its £100,000 target.

Health Exchange Nepal UK (HExN) is a charity run by doctors from across the UK which provides clinical and educational support to healthcare organisations and schools in the Himalayan country, which saw 9,000 people perish and 23,000 suffer life-changing injuries in earthquakes in 2015.

In response, the charity, which is run on a shoestring, launched an ambitious £100,000 appeal – and Merseysiders gave the biggest donations, including £10,000 from the Merseyside School of Anaesthesia and a fundraising night at the city’s Mayur Restaurant, supported by the Avishkar charity, which made £3,700.

As a result, the doctors invited Joe Anderson, the Mayor of Liverpool, to officially present the £10,000 cheque – and he even added a further £2,000 to the appeal total from his charity fund.

Dr Shambhu Acharya of HExN, who is a consultant anaesthetist at Aintree University Hospital, said: “We have been totally over-whelmed by the amazing kindness of people across Liverpool and Merseyside. No-one is paid in the charity, so every single penny donated makes a difference to the lives of people in Nepal.

“In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, we focused on providing survival kits and shelters. We then used more funds to help rebuild schools and supply hospitals, and assist small local charities working on the ground in Nepal. Now we are investing in longer term aid, such as helping strengthen Nepal’s rehabilitation services, which are very limited. These are the types of things which can help survivors who have had life-changing injuries.”

Mayor Joe Anderson said: “Liverpool has a vibrant and long-established Nepalese community, and it is heart-warming to see how people have rallied round to help. Liverpool’s kindness is known around the world and it is great to see how this generosity is helping thousands of people, from children to grandparents, who have been faced with such terrible experiences.”