Bonar Bridge GP on Ebola mercy mission
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A Sutherland GP is set to fly to West Africa on a mercy mission to help tackle the Ebola crisis.
Dr Chris Mair (60), of Creich Surgery in Bonar Bridge, will spend six weeks in Sierra Leone, leading a small medical team in a new Ebola treatment centre near the capital, Freetown.
Before then he and dozens of other medics will be in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, receiving training and being briefed on what to expect in Sierra Leone.
“I have very little idea what I will be facing, beyond what I have picked up from the media,” said Dr Mair, who is believed to be the only medic from NHS Highland’s area to have volunteered so far.
“That doesn’t trouble me – I will just have to deal with whatever I encounter.
“But I do know I have to go. The situation in West Africa is horrific, and frankly I think the response to the appeal for people to help has been quite pathetic.”
He added that he was well aware of the risks but was confident that he was doing the right thing.
“I remember talking a long time ago about doing something to put something back when I came towards the end of my career,” he said. “Well, this is it.”
The father of three added: “Obviously I spoke to my family about it. They understand why I am doing this and my wife (Dr Janet Mair who, with Chris, is one of three GPs at the Creich practice) has been very supportive.” Dr Mair believes he will be the medical lead of a team of around six or eight people, made up of doctors, nurses and paramedics, at the 92-bed Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre.
Run jointly by the Department for International Development and the charity Save the Children, the centre is one of six being constructed by the UK Government as part of its effort to halt the spread of the disease. It has been set up to assess and treat patients, while helping to reduce the risk of the disease spreading.
The centre, built by British Army engineers and local construction workers, has dedicated beds for infected healthcare workers and separate sites for confirmed and suspected cases of Ebola. It also has a blood testing laboratory.
It’s envisaged the facility will have more than 200 frontline medical staff, with around 50 on shift at any given time. There will also be dozens of non-clinical support staff and hygienists.
Dr Mair, who applied for a place on the mission five weeks ago, was selected following a vetting process to determine what skills he had to offer. He said: “I have experience in anaesthetics, I’m confident with the medical procedures they’ll be doing and have some experience in management-type roles.
“I trained in hospital medicine before I went into general practice, and I still work in a hospital – one night a fortnight in the Migdale – and I suppose all that experience was considered useful.”
While Dr Mair said he knew little about the working and living environment he’ll encounter, he is well aware that healthcare provision in Sierra Leone is far behind what he’s been used to.
“Resources there are way below what is required,” he said. “I’ve no doubt I’ll be working in very difficult circumstances.
“And I know that we’ll be addressing issues that are more related to public health, doing things like helping to build public confidence in the health service and trying to change a local culture where burials rather than cremations are favoured.”
Dr Mair said he had never done anything remotely like this before, and that he had never even been to Africa, although a few years ago his wife was in Uganda, where she contracted shigellosis, an acute bacterial infection. Curiously, Dr Mair has long been interested in Ebola. He explained: “Ebola first emerged in the 1970s, around the time I was a medical student.
“I remember coming out of a lecture and being asked: ‘What’s your favourite bug?’ I said it was Ebola – it was such a hideous disease with consequences that, as we are now seeing, can be very dramatic.
“That’s why I am doing this I suppose. I am sure it is going to be a very powerful experience – life-changing, I’ve been told.”
Dr Mair added he realised that his African mission would have an impact on his colleagues back home, but added: “With the support and goodwill of everyone in the practice there will be no impact on patients or the services we provide.”
