A Stewartry doctor has flown out to Ukraine to help with frontline medical aid.
Freda Newlands, an emergency medicine doctor at DGRI, is part of a team of five from the UK-Med charity that has gone to the war-torn country.
They’ll work with local health providers and international organisations to establish how to best address the needs of some of the 1.5 million people who’ve been internally displaced since the conflict began.
Freda said: “It’s unbelievable the number of people who’ve had to flee and unimaginable the physical and emotional trauma they’re going through. So I’m really proud and privileged to go out and do what I can to help.”
Uk-Med health director Dr Ram Vadi said: “Our aim is to get primary health care and general surgical services to those people most in need. As the conflict continues and the situation deteriorates this will undoubtedly include delivering trauma care to the war-wounded.
“From our current information we know the needs are greatest east of Lviv and we are one of the few NGOs assessing these areas. UK-Med can respond in a number of ways which includes setting up a field hospital which can provide out-patient care for around 100 patients a day, embedding highly skilled medical teams in existing hospitals to support the Ukrainian healthcare staff and setting up mobile health clinics which can get to the places where people need them most.
“This is a long-term response, and the costs will be high. Which is one of the reasons why, for the first time, we’ve launched a national appeal, aiming to raise £500,000.”
Freda, who was brought up in Dunscore and attended Wallace Hall Academy, has previously worked with UK-Med in Bangladesh and Myanmar. She has also worked for charities in Gaza and North Jordan.
She said: “Having seen the atrocities that I’ve seen overseas, nothing much fazes me in the UK any more. People remark that I’m always very calm in a crisis, probably because of things I’ve seen and experienced.”
