NRIEF Nepal Aid and Education Mission
14 December 2016
NRIEF Nepal Aid and Education Mission
Two aid and education missions have now been completed. These took place in June / July 2015 and in March 2016
The second mission was better structured and had a more focused educational and training objective
We had more time to plan and organise the second trip both in terms of the faculty as well as all the logistics
Collaboration is set to continue with the Nepalese Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons and BPKIHS teaching hospital in Dharan, East Nepal with further education and training missions planned
The Mission March 2016
• The team included myself, Mr Andrew McLennan (Consultant OMFS Exeter), Mr Sean Laverick (Consultant OMFS Dundee) and Mr Cellan Thomas, (Consultant OMFS Cardiff)
• Mr Rupert Scott was the successful OMFS Specialty trainee who applied in response to an open invitation I sent out on behalf of NRIEF to all UK Trainees through BAOMS and the FiTs representatives.
• I am grateful to our hospitals for donating decommissioned, yet useable instruments to help our cause and I am especially grateful to our CSSD department at Prince Charles Hospital for sterilising and processing our operating kit to take on the mission. Many thanks to DePuy Synthes for donating a variety of implants and instruments. Mission summary:
• 26 hours of CPD delivered to include a trauma skills workshop and a head & neck oncology symposium
• 27 hours of hands on surgical & operating training for local faculty and trainees delivered to include trauma, oncology and acute infections all based at a single centre
NRIEF on-going activities and Plans for 2017:
1. A further visit to Nepal is planned for March 2017 with emphasis on Trauma and cleft lip and palate. This is likely to include 4-6 consultants in OMFS and a specialty trainee. This was supposed to take place in November 2016 and had to be postponed due to calendar clashes for faculty and local hospitals and host institutions. A £5000 grant from BAOMS was secured to fund the next endeavour jointly with NRIEF
2. There is interest from a number of trainees to join our next mission and there is scope for a trainee to take part. Trainees have been encouraged to apply for BAOMS educational travel grants to cover the cost of flights and subsistence.
3. We received some generous donations from Renishaw Plc totaling £2500 plus the cost of the patient-specific implant used during our trip that was provided free of charge. Renishaw have expressed their interest in continuing to support NRIEF and the Nepal project
4. We have received smaller personal and business donations, including £200 from KLS Martin. As well as individual donations
5. There’s been increased enthusiasm from OMFS FiTs to fund raise for the NRIEF and the Nepal project. Mr Rupert Scott has kindly managed to fundraise in excess of £1200. We are considering setting up a fundraising ‘just giving’ page
6. It was agreed that NRIEF would sponsor a Nepalese OMF Surgeon to visit the UK for a period of 3-6 months in 2016. It is likely that they will be hosted at one or more of the units in Scotland, South Wales and the South West. We are in collaboration with the Faculty of Dental Surgery and the Royal College of Surgeons of England to facilitate this visit under the Medical & Dental Training Initiative. There is scope for this to be extended up to 12 months. Funding streams are being explored
7. We have had reasonable media coverage with the commendable efforts of Sian Evans, securing the publication of a blog in the BMJ as well as a news article in one of the Scottish papers, a local BBC radio interview in Devon as well as an article in Wales on-line and a mention in a book about Nepal post-earthquake
View Other News