The Gambia Medical UK Partnership

Welcome to GamMed

Giving long-term help and support to to raise the standards of hospital treatment in The Gambia
What We Do
Doctors in surgical gowns and masks performing an operation under bright lights.
A nurse in blue scrubs gently holds a sleeping child wrapped in a green blanket.
A nurse plays with a child in a hospital bed, using a yellow smiley-face balloon.
Doctors in surgical attire perform a medical procedure on a patient in an operating room.
Doctors and nurses focused on performing surgery in a hospital operating room.
A medical professional in scrubs performs surgery on a patient's leg, using a headlamp for lighting.
Medical staff perform a procedure on a child in an operating room, while others observe attentively.
A group of healthcare workers in colorful scrubs standing and sitting outside a building, smiling at the camera.

Two medical professionals examine a small child in a hospital, checking their condition with medical equipment.

What We Do

The Gambia lies on the coast of West Africa. It is the smallest country in mainland Africa and has a population of 2.4million. It ranks among the poorest countries in the world with a Gross National Income per capita of less than $1,500. Less than half of The Gambia's population has access to electricity, and over a third of the country's urban population lives in slums.

3% of GDP is spent on healthcare compared to approximately 10% in Western Countries. There is a shortage of healthcare professionals. The Gambia has 0.1 physicians per 1000 people compared to approx. 3 per 1000 for western countries, one of the worst rates in the world. Because of the limitation of physicians people often seek treatment from Traditional Healers. This often leads to poor outcomes for patients.

Read More About What We Do
Doctors and nurses perform surgery in an operating room, wearing scrubs, masks, and gloves.
What We Do
Surgery & surgical teaching & training

We perform challenging cases during the outreach trips. As well as helping many patients, we are also able to provide teaching and training to Gambian Healthcare professionals.

Procedures

We can help

In the Gambia many patients with injuries use traditional medicine and healers. Fractures are often bound with sticks and can go on to mal-unite resulting in significant permanent deformity. The resulting deformities would pose a significant orthopaedic challenge to reconstruct the limb in the Western World, let alone in The Gambia.

A healthcare worker checks a child's leg cast in a hospital room.
Medical staff wearing scrubs and hairnets prepare in a well-lit operating room with large overhead lights.
What We Do
Supplying much needed kit

We source much needed equipment and consumables. This has included theatre tables, x-ray machines, diathermy machines, physiotherapy equipment, implants, stitches, bandages, dressings, anaesthetic equipment etc etc. Most of this is "out of date" or unwanted in the UK.

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A healthcare worker helps a young boy with crutches walk in a hospital ward.
Procedures

We can help

Open fractures (where the skin is lacerated exposing the fractured bone to the outside world and bacteria) are an Orthopeadic & Plastic surgical emergency. Without aggressive early treatment chronic bone infection will ensue. The fractures need to be surgically stabilised and wounds methodically cleaned, freshened and closed.

Two medical professionals examine an X-ray on a screen next to a patient in an operating room.
What We Do
Radiology, teaching & training

Our radiologists provided scanning, reporting, teaching and support to radiologists and radiographers as well as identified ways in which radiology services can be improved in the long-term.

Meet The Team

Experts in their field
Smiling man wearing glasses and a checkered shirt, standing with arms crossed.
Kebba Marenah
Consultant & Head of Orthopaedic Surgery Founder Member of GamMed
A person with short hair wearing a dark blue shirt is facing the camera, smiling slightly.
James Gibbs
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon & Founder Member of GamMed & Charity Lead
A medical professional in scrubs performs surgery on a patient's leg, using a headlamp for lighting.
Jo Dartnell
Paediatric Orthopdaedic Consultant
Meet The Whole Team
A medical professional performs a procedure on a patient's leg while another holds an ultrasound tablet.
What We Do
Anaesthetics, teaching & training

Our Anaesthetists train in regional anaesthetic techniques. This means patients can have surgical procedures without the need for a general anaesthetic.

Training

We Can Help

Surgical teaching and training is provided to Doctors, Nurses and Theatre staff. In the UK our Surgical Trainees are helping Gambian Trainees to pass international professional exams.

Doctors and nurses focused on performing surgery in a hospital operating room.
An older woman is assisting a younger woman with a medical check-up in a clinic.
What We Do
Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy & rehabilitation support is given. Crutches are often seen as single-use items in the UK & are in short supply in The Gambia. We have sent hundreds of crutches and frames. On the outreach trips we also provide support & training for physiotherapists.

A nurse in blue scrubs plays with a smiling child, using a yellow balloon in a hospital room.
Caring

We Can Help

We provide post anaesthetic care and training for all our surgeries and procedures, ensuring patient comfort is at the forefront of all that we do.

Help us continue our work.
All money donated goes directly to helping raise the standards of healthcare in The Gambia.
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