“Donations like this are really useful, the supply that the
Clipper Race has provided should last us around three to four months,” says Dr
Yusuf Dala Gali, a doctor from Nigeria as he loads his car full of surplus race
medical supplies.
“The community is poor and cannot afford medication,” adds Yusuf,
who runs the Bila Community Clinic with volunteers in the small farming town of
Bila in Borno State, north-east Nigeria. He set up the clinic in 2007 with a
colleague when his mother fell ill and wanted to support his local community. Based
in the UK at Broomfield Hospital, Yusuf visits Bila every six months to treat
the local community and carry out home and school health visits for general
ailments.
“Recently we started performing small surgery’s because the
farming community does hard labour and people tend to have a lot of health
problems that prevent them from doing their work well. We have also started to
train local healthcare workers and pass our skills on to them so they are able
to examine patients when we are not there and make proper referrals, when we
are there they act as nurses to assist with the aftercare of minor surgery.”
Over the 11-month race the twelve teams carry an impressive
inventory of medical supplies across the world’s oceans in case of an offshore
emergency. The comprehensive kit of over 200 different types of medication and
equipment such as controlled morphine and forceps supplied by Official Medical
Kit Supplier for the 2013-14 editon, MedAire, is specifically designed for ocean racing in line with
Maritime and Coastguard Agency regulations - as the unique challenges of the
environment and sport require more than a standard off-the-shelf approach.
Due to the biennial schedule of the race the medication will expire before the 2015-16 edition of the race is complete and would have been destroyed and wasted.
“It will go a really long way to assist,” adds Yusuf.
If you would like to find out more about the Bila Community
Hospital or show your support, you can contact Dr Yusuf Dala Gali, here.