A SWINDON doctor is working to help change the lives of a community in Africa.

Dr Farzin Rahmani, 60, who is an anaesthetist at the Great Western Hospital, is working with other doctors and the Zambian government to rebuild and develop a hospital just outside the impoverished nation's capital Lusaka.

Plans are already going ahead with local chiefs and the government, and now Dr Rahmani is looking to source doctors and nurses to work at the hospital.

"There is already a health centre there, but it is in a very poor state. There is no electricity or running water," said Dr Rahmani.

"You drive up the roads and it looks like just a few hundred people live in the area, but in fact you realise that it is many thousands. Potentially the hospital will serve 180,000 to 200,000, as many people as there are in Swindon.

"We want to turn it into a fully-functioning hospital, capable of offering lifesaving operations. Zambia only has 300 doctors, but the pay there for them is reasonable so we will be looking to countries like India and Indonesia to see if we can find doctors to work in Zambia. Once we have found them, they will be taken on and paid for by the Zambian government."

Dr Rahmani says the people in the area need medical help.

"The average life expectancy in the area is just 36, so when you see it from their point of view I have lived two of their lives," he said.

"Then there are diseases like Aids and tuberculosis, which are particularly prevalent in the area as well as malnutrition.

"We hope that this consultative partnership between health professionals, the government and the locals will be a practical, much-needed example of how the health service in the country could be improved."

Dr Rahmani, who is a member of the Bah' Faith - a faith that resolves around unity and peace - has developed a number of lifesaving health projects in many countries around the world, including Guyana, Nicaragua, Honduras, Durban in South Africa and also in Romania.

The doctors on the project will be visiting every three months to check on its progress. Dr Rahmani hopes the hospital will be complete within a year to 18 months.

  • If you can help Dr Rahmani with the project call him on 07951 761856 or e-mail him at: f.rahmani@btinternet.com