Lancashire doctor spends Christmas in Gaza helping war victims
A doctor from Lancashire has sacrificed a family Christmas with his two-year-old daughter to save lives at a field hospital in Gaza.
Dr Matthew Newport is missing turkey and trimmings with his wife Rachel and daughter Meredith to provide life-saving support to patients in the conflict zone.
The anaesthetist from Ramsbottom volunteers with the Manchester-based medical aid charity UK-Med and has saved countless lives on four deployments to Gaza.
After flying out on 3rd December, Matthew spent Christmas at the Al Mawasi field hospital – one of two emergency field hospitals funded by the UK Government which have treated more than 300,000 people since January.
Matthew said: “I’ve worked lots of Christmases over the years but this is the first time since I’ve become a dad, so we had a mini-Christmas Day just before I left, which was nice, although confusing for a two-year-old.
“She opened lots of presents including a scooter and some other bits and bobs and we had the tree up."
Matthew might be missing the festive fun but takes solace from the fact his work is saving lives, including those of young kids a similar age to his daughter.
He explained: “We were extremely busy when combat operations were at there peak in Rafah, close to where we are based.
“Things have calmed down a little since October, but we still regularly have mass casualty incidents on top of a big rise in winter-related illnesses, especially respiratory infections in children.
“There are still a lot of jets going over and there’s still a lot of bombing and you often hear small arms fire around the area where the humanitarian zone officially ends.
“It’s close enough that we’ve had stray rounds flying around over us. A few days ago, we had five patients come in that had been hit.
“Even though they lose some of their velocity they still pack a punch. We had one guy with a bullet through the head that had absolutely smashed his skull. We stabilised him and transferred him to an intensive care unit.
“There was also a five-year-old who was with his parents when he’d just started crying and waving. They just saw this little nick on his back, so they brought him in and when we x-rayed him, he had a rifle round under his shoulder blade.
“As a surgeon, you do become pretty deadened to most things to do with trauma and death. Before Gaza, I’d seen a lot of serious trauma injuries to kids, especially out with the air ambulance, but they are just not to the same degree of sadness.
“You come across stuff like kids getting into bother in car accidents, rivers, dog attacks, but those are just accidents.
“Seeing kids brought in dead with gunshot wounds is heart-breaking. The difference with Gaza is that it is a man-made crisis.”
The Government announced a further £5.5million earlier this year to UK-Med to fund their life-saving work in Gaza.
UK-Med has also launched a Middle East Crisis Appeal, which has so far raised £200,000, and is calling for donations from the British public to support its work in Gaza.
Matthew will return home next month and resume his work with East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust at the Blackburn and Burnley Teaching Hospitals, as well as the North West Air Ambulance.