THE work that has been done by devoted medical staff from Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust out in India is little short of a miracle.
These dedicated volunteers – helped by kind-hearted business people from Huddersfield – are changing hundreds of lives for the better.
And they have each forked out up to £2,000 to go out there and help deeply impoverished people who have nowhere else to turn to for medical help.
The Slumdoctor Project has an eye-catching name and is more than living up to it.
Set up by Dr Vijay Bangar, it takes teams of consultants, doctors, nurses and other volunteers from the UK to the northern Punjab region.
This year it has helped 8,000 people and organised 100 of operations. What strikes the team most is that many of the medical conditions are so easily treated and yet the people are so poor they expect to die from them.
Stories like this do put our lives firmly into perspective.
Our health authorities are having to make huge funding cuts which will have a detrimental impact on patient care.
But at least we still do have an NHS which is there for everyone when they need it.
And yet so often it is abused by its users with many people dialling 999 for ambulances or turning up at hospitals when their medical need does not really justify it.
We are lucky to live where we do so let’s cherish what we have and everyone play a part in protecting the NHS for future generations.
