Doctor aiming to put cash boost into Africa

A LOTHIANS medic is spearheading a charity drive to raise money for an African hospital that her missionary grandfather helped to build.

Dr Jo Vallis, who grew up in Zambia and moved to Scotland when she was 17, is aiming to raise 20,000 for a new ambulance and vital medical equipment for Chitambo hospital.

Her father, Dr Hamilton Currie, also worked at the hospital and is buried there. Dr Vallis, a research and development officer with NHS Lothian, hopes to donate the new ambulance by next August - the 100th anniversary of the remote hospital.

The existing ambulance is out of action and though the hospital has been refurbished, it has only basic equipment - including a wooden incubator heated by candles. The initiative was set up by the charity Penicuik for Africa, which has previously donated money to Aids testing schemes in Mombassa, Kenya, a charity for blind people, also in Kenya, and a shanty town health clinic in South Africa.

Dr Vallis, 54, who is now secretary of the group, said it had already raised 3000 for Chitambo hospital and was planning more fundraising events.