DOCTORS have joined forces with manufacturing firm Olympus to send desperately needed medical equipment to a teaching hospital in Malawi.

Malawi has one of the highest incidences of oesophageal cancer in the world.

There is also a very high incidence of life-threatening bleeding from the gullet and stomach due to schistosomiasis infection.

The availability of endoscopic equipment and training local clinicians in their use can significantly improve the outcome for these patients.

Professor Adrian Stanley, a leading Consultant Gastroenterologist based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, said: “Quite simply, these endoscopes, which would otherwise have ended up being decommissioned and scrapped, will help doctors in Malawi save many lives.”

Over the past six years, Professor Stanley has made regular trips to deliver equipment and training in Malawi.

As well as helping run formal endoscopic training courses in Mzuzu and Blantyre, he travelled with two acute medical consultant colleagues from Glasgow Royal, Dr Christine Aiken and Dr David Colville, following a request from Mzuzu Central Hospital, to help set up a Medical High Dependency Unit.

This latest donation of five endoscopes from Olympus is thanks to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's (NHSGGC) John McGarrity who is based in the Board’s procurement department.

Professor Stanley said: “John realised that when NHSGGC traded in equipment with Olympus for a higher spec model, the equipment was sent back to the company and decommissioned.

"He contacted Olympus and myself and we explained the situation and managed to persuade the company to give us the endoscopes back, for donation to Malawi.

"This took nearly two years to progress but the effort paid off.

"This really is a win, win situation for everyone and hopefully will lead to more equipment donations in the future.”

As the tenth poorest country in the world, medical equipment and training of staff are desperately needed in Malawi.

NHSGGC now has a policy of donating any older, unused equipment to Malawi, once tested as safe and functioning by its medical physics team.

Umar Butt, Territory Manager for Olympus said: “It's incredibly satisfying to support a cause such as this and see how much of a difference medical equipment can make to people's lives in countries such as Malawi, especially when it comes to diagnosing and treating cancer.

"At Olympus we focus on improving the quality of patient care every day through designing and developing innovative solutions for state-of-the-art medical systems.”