Inverness hero medic receives OBE from King Charles
An Inverness surgeon who has treated injured people in Ukraine's war zone has received an OBE from King Charles.
Andy Kent has been made an OBE for services to UK health support overseas, particularly in Ukraine, and during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He met received the honour from King Charles at Holyrood Palace today.
Angus Watson, clinical chairman of surgery at University of Aberdeen, shared an image on social media and stated: "This is my great pal Andy Kent and his incredible wife Jill – receiving his OBE from King Charles III today at Holyrood Palace.
"Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and UK-Med strongly supported this award.
"A lifetime of selfless service rewarded."
Mr Kent, a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at Raigmore Hospital, has travelled to Ukraine on several occasions to help treat the injured following the Russian invasion.
His efforts were recognised in the New Year Honours list.
On one occasion, he witnessed at first hand two Russian rocket attacks at both ends of the same train journey.
As well as his work in Ukraine, he has also taken part in several other missions – with UK-Med in Beirut and Eswatini, the HALO Trust in Afghanistan, with World Health Organisation in Somalia and Yemen and the Primary Trauma Care Foundation in Uganda and India.
In April, he was part of a UK Emergency Medical Team deployed to Malawi after devastating flooding caused by Cyclone Freddy.
It came after he was crowned healthcare hero and overall hero of heroes at the Highland Heroes 2023.