For two years IDEALS has been planning Fellowships in Limb Reconstruction following severe injuries caused by either war or other effects.
This became a reality when two Senior Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeons at Kings College Hospital; Miss Sarah Phillips FRCS and Mr Graeme Groom FRCS became Trustees of IDEALS. Sarah and Graeme are the leading clinicians in the Limb Reconstruction Unit at Kings with extensive experience in the management of complex limb injuries and treating both civilian and military casualties.
The Fellows must be sufficiently senior to benefit from this advanced training and also young enough to have many years to donate the fruits of this study to the care of Gaza patients. The extensive range of training will take an estimated seven months with extra experience gained from being in this designated Major Trauma Centre.
Quite obviously this was going to be an expensive project for a small charity like IDEALS but a successful application was made to the UK Government funded charity Tropical Health and Training, (THET). The successful grant had much to do with the highly professional document produced by Dr Andy Ferguson and the recognised high level of expertise which the King’s Consultants had shown over many years. THET was impressed with the idea that the training in Limb Reconstruction and General Trauma would assist with the development of Trauma Services in Gaza.
The first Fellow Dr Adnan Bursh MD arrived in London in late March and has stayed in rented, accommodation in an apartment owned by King’s College Hospital.
The project has developed considerably with attention to how the training can influence general trauma care and establishing a Data Base for Trauma in Gaza. Regular weekly meetings with Dr Bursh and a monthly IDEALS meeting at Kings has led to a precise record of achievements and the difficulties encountered. The Fellow has attended specialist courses and from mid August Tele-conferences with Gaza Clinicians, including the other two appointed Fellows, have taken place which are becoming more extensive.
Mon 04 Nov 2013