The Highland GP who travelled to West Africa to join the international effort against the spread of Ebola, is not only determined to return but also to raise funds to develop healthcare there.
Dr Chris Mair (61) got back to his Sutherland home shortly before New Year, after five weeks in the Ebola treatment centre in Kerry Town near Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
He said he was shocked by what he saw.
The plight of Scots public health nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who contracted Ebola while working with him in Kerry Town, had in no way put him off returning.
"If anything, it has made me more determined," he said. "The situation there is grim and I am saddened that more people haven't volunteered. I'm absolutely certain that I'll go back this year, though we will be looking to take on another partner at the practice first."
The father of three also revealed that before he went to Africa he discussed with his wife Janet, a fellow GP at the Creich Surgery in Bonar Bridge, sons Tom (23) and Andy (15) and daughter Cat (21) the possibility that he might join the hundreds of healthcare workers who have died of Ebola in West Africa.
"We had to consider the fact that I might not return," he said. "When I decided that I wanted to volunteer I spoke to my family and to Sheila Carbarns, the other GP at the Creich practice, and told them that I wouldn't go if any of them thought I shouldn't. Everyone was right behind me."
He is now looking into how best to start an initiative to fund medical training in Sierra Leone.
He explained: "On Christmas Eve I went to the main hospital in Freetown to see what things were like there. It was shocking. The provost of the medical school there told me that students' fees there were 2,500 dollars a year .
That was "peanuts" compared to this country but still more than many could afford resulting in a very high drop-out rate. He said:
"It got me thinking about setting up some sort of arrangement to fund people through medical school. Around 4,500 to 5,000 dollars a year would pay a student's fees and buy the equipment and books they may need. "
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