Bokharan Doctors Visit Hammersmith Hospital in Healthcare Exchange

24 July 1998

A group of four doctors from Bokhara, former Soviet Union (FSU), will visit the Neonatal Unit at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine on 27 July. The visit is organised by the charity HealthProm which is committed to improving the standard of healthcare in the countries of the FSU. The exchange is part of HealthProm's partnership projects bringing together healthcare professionals from Britain and from the FSU.

The doctors, three obstetricians and one paediatrician, attended workshops run by HealthProm in Bokhara. These workshops are part of a Safe Motherhood programme and are run by a teaching team of an obstetrician, midwife and neonatal paediatrician. The programme addresses the factors contributing to the high rates of mortality and disease in mothers and babies in the FSU with the aim of helping to reduce these rates.

The Bokharan doctors are currently on a two week study exchange in the UK. They have been based at All Saints' Hospital, Chatham but are visiting Hammersmith Hospital to see work in a teaching hospital. They will be visiting the Neonatal Unit, the library and participating on a ward round at the Hammersmith and the Centre for Midwifery at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital.

Dr Neena Modi, a Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Neonatal Paediatrics at Hammersmith Hospital, one of the UK hosts has been involved in field trips and participated in workshops in the FSU. She was appointed to the HealthProm executive board in December 1997.

For more information and photos please contact:

Susie Renshaw in the Press Office on 0171-594 6701

Notes to editors:

1) HealthProm was formed in 1984. It is a non-profit making organisation which is supported by charitable trusts and foundations, corporate sponsors, statutory bodies and private donations.

2) Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine is an independent constituent college of the University of London. Founded in 1907, the College teaches a full range of science, engineering, medical and management disciplines at the highest level. The concentration and strength of Imperial's research in science, engineering and medicine gives the College a unique and internationally distinctive research presence. Imperial College was recently rated second overall in the Financial Times Guide to Britain's top 100 universities (Financial Times 29 April 1998).