Students Raise Funds for Under-Resourced Hospitals

University of Dundee Medical students have raised tens of thousands of pounds for hospitals in Africa during ‘Responsible Electives’ in Malawi and Zambia. Electives are a period of study in which medical students can learn hands-on experience almost anywhere in the world.

A group of 10 students from Dundee chose to participate in the Responsible Electives programme and in the course of this have raised over £16,000 for Nkhoma Hospital in Malawi and St. Francis Mission Hospital in Zambia.

Dr Katy Daniels, Electives Lead and Clinical Teacher from the School of Medicine, said, “We are immensely proud of the contribution our students have made to these hospitals. “The Responsible Elective programme has meant partnering our world-class students with low-income hospitals and allowing them all to benefit from the experiences each can bring to the other. Every student had a fundraising target of £1000 and this subsequently went towards renovations, medical equipment and scholarships to train new staff at the hospitals.”

Andrew Duncan, one of the students who went to Malawi, said, “I was keen to do my elective at Nkhoma because we could care for the patients in a way we cannot in the UK. We were faced with diseases you don’t often see here such as Malaria, HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) and we got the opportunity to learn the local language, Chichewa, to help perform consultations.”

The Responsible Electives will continue next year with growing numbers participating and the students continuing to raise more money for the under-resourced hospitals.