Steps to recovery: How Scotland is helping victims of the Libyan conflict

They are ordinary civilians who endured extraordinary suffering when their nation descended into bitter and bloody conflict. Students, drivers and utility workers, they witnessed the death of their loved ones in a war that ravaged Libya as Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi clung desperately to power.

Though they lived to tell the tale, some of the survivors suffered horrific wounds, and it seemed as if they would be forced to endure not only the pain of their memories, but lifelong debilitating physical injuries.

Now, though, a group of ordinary Libyans who lost limbs during the country’s uprising against the despised Gaddifi regime are preparing to return home to as close a normal life as possible thanks to the expertise of the Scottish health system.

Over the past seven weeks, nine men from the devastated nation received specialist prosthetics treatment at an NHS centre in Glasgow. Having thought they would always have to use wheelchairs, they will walk again.

In the coming weeks, they will complete their courses of treatment at the city’s West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre (Westmarc) and begin the long task of helping to rebuild their homeland.

Yesterday, during a meeting with Cabinet Secretary for Health Nicola Sturgeon, they expressed their gratitude to the medical staff who have helped to turn their lives around, and praised the kindness shown to them by Scots during their stay.

Abdulminum El-Zair, a driver, is one of those who has undergone treatment at the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde facility, based in the Southern General Hospital. He hails from Bani Walid, a town about 100 miles south-east of the capital, Tripoli, which is the ancestral home of the large and influential Warfalla tribe.

Alongside Sirte, Bani Walid was one of the Gaddafi regime’s strongholds, where loyalist forces fought defiantly to the bitter end under the direction of the dictator’s son, Saif al-Islam.

The town only surrendered after dozens of its young men were killed by rocket barrages which smashed buildings to pieces. Amid the chaos, El-Zair could stand no more, and “decided to join the battle to liberate” the enclave. It proved a brutal engagement. His brother, Abdulsalam, was killed during demonstrations against Gaddafi, and soon he himself was injured.

“I was hit with a rocket in September,” the 34-year-old El-Zair said. “A lot of people died that day and my uncle died a few days later. I lost my right leg but I would have given my life to liberate Libya from Gaddafi and his regime.

“Now we are looking to build a new democratic country. I am looking forward to going back and help in rebuilding my country. I miss my parents, brothers and sisters.”

For those here who have helped him to recovery, he said: “I cannot thank the Scottish people enough for allowing me to come here for treatment, I have been overwhelmed by the kindness shown to us and the support from the medical and nursing staff and also the local community.”

Mostafa Benhalimi also said his future suddenly looks brighter after having received medical care in Scotland. Like El-Zair, he has been fitted with a prosthetic limb. Soldiers loyal to Gaddafi shot him in the leg in front of his house in Tripoli in August. Still a teenager, he had not been bearing arms, but was trying to tie a liberation flag to the roof of the building.

An economics student in his third year at university, Benhalimi, who is 19, said he has been changed by his experience in Scotland, and that he is determined to make a positive impact in Libya upon his graduation.

“I am very grateful to the Scottish Government in facilitating my treatment in Scotland,” he says. “I thought I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life but now I can walk again.

“I miss my mother a lot. I felt sorry for her when I was shot, but thankfully I am returning home a different person.”

Another patient who met Ms Sturgeon was Ehab Elmehdawi from Benghazi, who long protested the grip on power enjoyed by Gaddafi even before the uprising last year. In 2006 he and his brother were jailed for staging a demonstration against the government.

In March last year, just hours before the United Nations enforced a no-fly zone in the country, his brother, Mansour, 26, was killed. But Elmehdawi is optimistic about the democratic rebirth of his homeland.

Elmehdawi, 29, who works for an electricity company, said: “I would like to return to work and help to rebuild a new Libya. I had never dreamt of visiting Scotland and since arriving here I have found the Scottish people very friendly and helpful.

“I cannot thank the Scottish Government and Ms Sturgeon enough for their help with our treatment and the staff at the treatment centre for all the help and support they have given us.”

Along with the nine prosthetics patients who received support in Glasgow, there are no fewer than 65 Libyan victims of the conflict being treated in the UK. It followed an announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron during a visit to Tripoli in September that places would be made available in specialist hospitals for reconstruction surgery, rehabilitation and prosthetic provision for critically injured Libyans. The care is being managed around existing treatment schedules for NHS patients, with the costs being met by the Libyan authorities.

In Lancashire, the local NHS Foundation Trust (Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) is treating 25 amputees at a specialist mobility rehabilitation unit, as well as training Libyan medics to provide rehabilitation for the victims upon their return to Libya, including the production and maintenance of prosthetics and orthotics. Other patients are being treated at clinics in Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, and London.

Sturgeon said she was delighted at the progress they had made since arriving in Scotland.

“Scotland offers excellent specialised prosthetics care, and it is right that we were able to offer this quality of care to others who urgently needed it,” she said. “I was delighted to meet the Libyan patients today, to see first hand how our specialised skills have benefited those who were most at need.

“All of the patients suffered lower limb amputations and one is a bilateral amputee, and they will be returning home to Libya having received the life-changing prostheses and support they required.”

John Colvin, Westmarc’s consultant clinical scientist, said all the staff at the centre had been moved by the experience of treating the amputees.

He said: “The whole Westmarc team are delighted to have had the opportunity to help this inspiring group of patients. It is very difficult for us to fully appreciate what they have been through and their personal stories have been very moving.

“They have worked hard and shown great determination in adjusting to their new prosthetic limbs and we wish them every success in the future.”

Soon, the group will be bound for home. Even though they only arrived in Scotland in the last week of January, it seems their short time here will cement lifelong bonds between this country and their own.

El-Zair said: “I would like to thank the Libyan Government for choosing Scotland as the country for my treatment. I am looking forward to a new prosperous relationship between Libya and Scotland and to sharing my experience here with the people back home.”

The West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Service (Westmarc) helps families from all across Scotland affected by amputation or the congential absence of a limb.

Part of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the centre is in the city’s Southern General Hospital, and its prosthetics department provides a critical service to thousands of adults and children every year.

It has medical clinics, ward rounds and multidisciplinary clinics – where about 300 new patients and referrals are assessed each year – and deals with repairs to prostheses. It also sees around 6,500 outpatients each year, who come from all across central and southern Scotland.

Westmarc has close links with the Murray Foundation, a support group established in 1996 by Sir David Murray for those affected by limb loss or absence. It also works with universities to find placements for those studying prosthetics, physiotherapy or occupational therapy.

In addition to its prosthetics expertise, the centre has a high-quality physiotherapy service, has a gym on-site, and works closely with specialist prosthetic occupational therapists, bioengineers, clinical psychologists and rehabilitation consultants.

The centre – which runs a weekly information and support group and a swimming group – is home also to a wheelchair service, used by around 42,000 people. Clinics for wheelchair users are conducted within Westmarc at satellite locations across the west of Scotland.

There is also a neuro-biomechanics hub, which has been developed to understand more about the interaction of biomechanics and neurology, and to explore ways to improve the services offered to patients with neurological conditions affecting their walking ability.

It is estimated there around 7,000 amputees in Scotland, and many other organisations offer help to those affected by the loss of a limb. The Murray Foundation, for instance, can provide counsellors for people to speak about their feelings after what is for many a traumatic experience, and holds a range of events to allow people to form their own support network.

It also has in place a volunteer visitors scheme, which gives anyone considering amputation or who has recently undergone an amputation an opportunity to talk confidentially with someone who has had a similar experience.