Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highlands doctor diverts from Yemen mercy mission to help in Ukraine

UK Med team member Freda Newlands visiting displaced person shelter in Drohobych Ukraine. Picture supplied by UK Med.
UK Med team member Freda Newlands visiting displaced person shelter in Drohobych Ukraine. Picture supplied by UK Med.

An Inverness medic has rushed to Ukraine after receiving an SOS call from a UK charity.

Andy Kent, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at NHS Highland, has been helping with the humanitarian response to the unfolding horrors in the east of the war-torn country.

When he was asked to go to Ukraine, Mr Kent was already on a mercy mission in the Yemen with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He returned to Inverness for two days before heading to be based in Lviv.

He said: “I had only two days at home before packing some cold-weather kit and heading back to Dalcross to fly to Krakow in Poland and onward by road to Lviv in western Ukraine, arriving on Tuesday, March 8.

“Our recce  – or assessment – team comprises of a team lead from UK-Med, myself as surgical lead, a medical lead and a logistics expert.

“Together, our remit has been to get “eyes on the ground” and a real-time feel for the evolving situation. ”

The UK Med team. Picture supplied by UK Med.

‘Dozens of agencies are pouring in’

Mr Kent said efforts were being made to coordinate the aid pouring in from around the world, which is adding to the ongoing challenges.

“There are literally dozens of aid agencies pouring into western Ukraine from all over the world and the coordination and control of these is a real challenge,” he said.

“Fortunately the WHO and United Nations (UN) have oversight of this and are slowly organising everyone to pull in the same direction.”

Mr Kent described Lviv as a “beautiful city” a few hours away from the main war fighting in the east but admitted the atmosphere is strange.

“Air raid sirens regularly go off, especially at night, although no one pays them much attention,” he said.

“Recently bombing of local military bases have taken place and this has clearly increased tension.

“A significant percentage of the population – mainly the elderly, women and children – have left the city and crossed the border to Poland and beyond.

“They have been replaced by other IDP’s heading from east to west and by an influx of humanitarian workers.

“There is therefore a disproportionate number of males who under martial law are unable to leave and expected stay and protect their homeland.

“Almost every person I have spoken with has passionately stated that they will stay and fight the Russian invaders ‘at all costs’.”

Andy Kent is in Ukraine helping medics and patient. Supplied by UK Med

‘We have tended to ignore the Ukraine for several years’

Mr Kent is in the country to find out what support is needed to make sure people have the best medical care.

He added: “Fortunately, the Ukrainian medical and military medical services are extremely well-prepared for this conflict and have a significant reserve of hospital resources standing by in anticipation of any influx of casualties.

“In the wider world, we have tended to ignore that there has been an ongoing war in eastern Ukraine for several years and that consequently, their military medical services have considerable experience.

“Subsequently, we at UK-Med, and most other humanitarian medical teams,  will be concentrating our resources in central and western Ukraine providing primary health care such as paediatrics, maternal health, geriatric and infection control to the hundreds of thousands of IDPs who have collected in this area.”

After finishing his assessments, it is hoped Mr Kent will return home to Inverness, and Raigmore’s surgical department.

UK-Med, which is self-funding its work in the Ukraine, has launched a national appeal for support. Visit www.UK-Med.org to help.