Authors:

• Dr Madahvi Natrajan, South London Surgical Resident Doctor,
• Dr Grace Hillsmith, Trust SHO in Medicine, STSFT;
• Dr Christian Tang, EX-F2 STSFT;
• Dr Prachi Rabade, Anaesthetic Registrar, Walawalkar Hospital Medical College and Hospital;
• Dr Sarang Puranik, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Management, Kingston Hospital, UK;
• Dr Sanjay Deshpande, Consultant in Anaesthesia and ICM, STSFT

Since 2006, a team of healthcare professionals from the UK have been visiting BKL Walawalkar University Hospital in Dervan, India.

Each year, they undertake an annual camp. As UK anaesthetists in training, it was inspiring to engage in and experience work at BKL and to get exposure to the volume and variety of the surgery.

It was impressive to observe a strong working ethos among members of the local surgical team, and we also noticed that the residents were highly engaged in preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative care of the patients attending this year’s camp.

The hospital is located geographically between Mumbai and Goa, each almost 250 km away. BKL is a multispecialty hospital and has now got state-of-the-art equipment and facilities needed for the care of the local population. It is well established, and it was obvious that the local staff and the UK team have developed a partnership for the implementation of changes in the delivery of healthcare.