Background Since 1991.

Mr RN Villar FRCS, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Cambridge, initiated a Medical Appreciation of Salaj District Hospital in 1991.
Since then 174 Medical (and other) Specialists and Engineers have made 284 visits to Romania. They have provided training, assessed needs and installed appropriate and recommended equipment.

Local Outcomes
The provision of appropriate equipment has enabled training to be given which would otherwise not have been possible.
Result: Romanian doctors, nurses and other staff, including laundry staff, achieve more and have greater responsibilities.

National Outcomes
The ‘Narrow Focus, Wide Impact’ strategy has borne fruit and is best exemplified by the involvement of the Bucharest Institute of Public Health and the 4th National Pathology meeting hosted by Salaj Hospital in 1998.

Beneficiaries
The patients, and also the Romanian Health service which, nationally and locally, has profited from expertise freely given by UK Health Service professionals.