In a perfect world Catherine Sutherland would have been given a bottle of Clynelish for Christmas.

That and two extra doctors for the rota (though she'd have settled for one). And maybe a kitten to train up against the rat problem in the compound.

But this is not a perfect world and that's why Ms Sutherland, 34 originally from Portobello, spent Christmas in the Central African Republic, part of a six-month stint with the volunteer medical service MSF.

The GP, who in the UK divides her time between Newcastle and Edinburgh where she works in the Royal Hospital, is based in the town of Bossangoa, some 300 kilometres north of the capital Bangui.

A year ago the town was hit by the sectarian violence between Muslim and Christian militias that has swept the country. More than 5000 people have been killed in the Central African Republic in the past year and the UN estimate that more than half of the country's 4.5 million population need emergency assistance, including shelter, food and water, education and basic health care.

In Bossangoa itself hundreds of people were killed in a matter of days last December and thousands fled.

The violence has now calmed, Ms Sutherland says, but there remains a tension around the town. "It's settling down, but it doesn't take very much for people to get uneasy."

And even if the violence has subsided there remain no shortage of work for the Scottish doctor.

"A huge proportion of my work is malaria-related," she says. "We get an awful lot of people coming in with complications from malaria." She is regularly seeing patients who are severely anaemic or suffering from neurological problems.

Patients will travel up to 60 or 70kms on the back of a motorbike just to be seen, she says. "There are people who have nasty infections they've not been able to get treated. Nasty pneumonias. Then there are people who have had problems during their pregnancy. People who don't have ante-natal care and who come in after they've delivered at home. Sometimes the women are not in a very good shape before they've given birth."

Until recently Ms Sutherland was one of only two GPs at the Hospital Bossangoa, on call for 24 hours on alternate days. "If you were unlucky you could be up for several hours and then working the next day."

That situation has eased but there remains a need for more medically trained staff. "Because of the insecurity people trained medically in this country find it difficult to work here as opposed to the capital."

That puts more pressure on the staff who are there. Facilities at the hospital are basic but adequate. The real problems Ms Sutherland has encountered are the limited resources. "You have to accept what we're limited to in regards to specialist advanced care such as proper intensive care. You know a patient would maybe survive in a different setting. Or sometimes you don't know what a patient has. A clinical examination only takes you so far. We don't have a lot of tests and that's really difficult as well."

This is Ms Sutherland's third MSF posting. She has previously spent time in Pakistan and on the Afghan border and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "I want to do it because it's very varied, there's always a need and it really makes me think about my work. I think it helps my work back at home."

What she has found since arriving in the Central African Republic is a friendly, open and welcoming country. "Most people want to get on with their everyday life, that's the sad thing. They're a very kind, open, friendly people trying to do what anyone would try to do for their family. Like a lot of places it's the minority who cause the instability."

For more information or to support the work of the MSF visit www.msf.org.uk