The Project
Our mission is simple. It is to follow up our disaster medical help relief trip that immediately followed the earthquake, with the building, equipping and running of a hospital to continue to help treat these proud, generous and brave people.
The MDAUK team
Pic right shows the MDAUK team on their disaster relief visit shortly after the earthquake.
Ckick here for more team information and individual contact details
On Saturday 8 October 2005 , just before 0900 am (Pakistan standard time), a powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Northern Pakistan. For six minutes the earth shook, devastating parts of the North Western Frontier Province as well as large sections of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. When the earth finally stopped moving, 87,000 people were dead, tens of thousands lay injured and over three million people were left homeless.
The Pakistani government appealed to the world for international help. Aid in the form of both materials and manpower left many countries; none as rapidly as from Britain.
A trauma team from Nottingham /Derby flew into northern Pakistan one week following the tragedy. The team worked in a field hospital consisting mainly of tents. Over one thousand patients were treated in the five and a half days they were there. 134 major surgical procedures were carried out under general anaesthetic. At any one time 70 inpatients were cared for.
The organisational skills during major incidents, were a vital resource and area of expertise of this team. The team helped create a medical facilit that had a functioning Emergency Department, a fully operational operating theatre and in patient facilities for 75 patients. A system of ward rounds and standards of in-patient care were established. Pre-transfer stabilisation and triage systems were set up. Theatre rules and procedures were made operational. The team returned to England after one week in Balakot. Yet the work continues and at the present moment the world's focus is still on the crisis in northern Pakistan.
It is a matter of time when either another natural disaster or probably other events shift this focus. The ongoing needs of the people of Northern Pakistan will still need to be addressed. On of the poignant memories was the lack of hospitals in the region. The Midlands Doctors Association UK (MDAUK) is a charity set up by the members of the trauma team that went to Balakot.
The aim of this charity is to establish a hospital in the northern parts of Pakistan. This hospital will be akin to a small NHS facility, having the same set of standards for medical and surgical care. More importantly this facility will be run on a no fee basis and funded via money raised as a charity. The pages of this web site will reveal the work that has so far been done and also introduce to you a brave and resilient people who despite all the adversity maintained their dignity and patience. Their optimism despite heart wrenching suffering has moved relief workers that went to Pakistan.
Their plight is on camera for the world to see. For us it was an honour and a privilege to have worked amongst them. None of us will be the same again. In our small way we will return and build this small medical facility, for we simply cannot just walk away once the cameras have left. We intend to stay and hope you will join us in our venture and continue to help the brave and courageous people of Northern Pakistan.