Ribble Valley doctor's mercy mission in Liberian hospital

Laura Todd, 30, of Berkeley Drive, Read, spent half a year in the West African nation with charity Medecins Sans Frontiers, returning last month.

Supporting and training staff in the A and E department of a children’s hospital, she treated youngsters suffering serious illness and injury in a country where 16 years of civil war ended only four years ago.

Laura went out to Liberia while in between jobs. She is now working as a GP in Burnley and Padiham.

She said: “I saw lots of cases of malaria, pneumonia and meningitis, things which are treatable but often the children were already critical by the time they arrived because they had travelled so far or mothers with little education had brought them too late.

“The need there is so much greater. There is little health infrastructure and much of it is not free so most people can’t afford proper healthcare and go to traditional healers instead. At least one child a week would die from the effects of herbal toxicity because of that.

“But there were happy stories. One little boy had serious burns after he pulled a cooking pot onto himself. In the UK he would have had skin grafts, but there is simply no-one in the country with the facilities to do that.

“He was in hospital for seven months, with the nurses meticulously dressing his wounds every day, but eventually he was able to go home.”

The former Clitheroe Grammar School pupil added that although equipment was basic, there was more available at the MSF hospital than at Government-sponsored centres. She praised her African colleagues’ dedication and experience, despite only basic training.

She said: “After I finished training I worked for two years in New Zealand, so I’m used to being away from home, but working with MSF has always been my ambition.

“There are strict entry requirements and I had to wait until I’d gathered enough experience.

"It was a fantastic opportunity and I hope I get the chance to work with them again.”