Medics Working Flat Out To Help Quake Victims

There is some utterly incredible work taking place in the hospitals of Nepal.

For nearly three weeks now, since the first earthquake hit, surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and all their support teams have been working around the clock in extremely challenging conditions to treat horrifically injured people.

An hour's drive to the east of Kathmandu is Dhulikhel hospital. Close to the epicentre of Tuesday's massive quake, it is the medical hub in this part of the country.

Thankfully, the building is not damaged. Inside, we meet the medical director, Dr Rajendra Koju. He looks exhausted but remains upbeat.

"We are trying our best. Our own staff have lost their homes and their family members but still they come to work," he says.

He points to some of the patients. "Don't say all the time that these are the victims," he says with a smile. "They are the survivors."

He invites us into the operating theatre zone. There are five theatres here and all are in constant use.

In one, we see an elderly man under a general anaesthetic as his leg is operated on. Next door is a teenager. Both, we are told, will make a full recovery.

We move to the third operating theatre. On the operating table is 53-year-old Gyan Bahadur Tamang. He has a spinal fracture and is undergoing spinal surgery.

As we watch, the lights go out. There are regular power cuts here but the hospital has a generator so the medical equipment continues to work.

Despite the team operating on an open wound to his spine, the surgeon says Mr Tamang will be walking again in a day or two.

Sitting in a room next door we meet two facial surgeons and a nurse from the UK. They have flown out here to help.

Sunil Sah is a maxillofacial surgeon from Leeds and a member of the British Association for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons . His NHS pass hangs around his neck.

"They gave me the time off to come here to help," he tells me.

"I am from Nepal originally so I wanted to come back here to offer my skills."

Nick Hampton is also a facial surgeon, usually based in Lancashire. He arrived here just after the first quake and will leave, reluctantly, on Sunday.

"With my skills I thought I would try and just do my bit. It's an eye opener in every way."

They are working alongside Kalpana Shahi, a British nurse from Guy's Hospital in London.

"This is my home country. I wanted to come to help." she tells me.

Moments later an operating theatre becomes free. They put on their smocks and head in.

The patient is four-year-old Dipson Shrestha. He has a fracture to his chin and is visibly in pain.

His mother cries as she releases him from her arms. Within moments, he is under a general anaesthetic and the two British surgeons move in.

"He'll be fine," Sunil Sah tells me with a thumbs-up.

"He will make a full recovery."

Around him is a team of Nepalese medial staff. They must all be exhausted. Two thousand operations have been conducted at this hospital alone in two-and-a-half weeks.