A NEW children's unit in the world's ninth poorest country is to benefit from vital supplies of hospital equipment donated from Glasgow's old hospitals.

A massive container filled with cots, mattresses, medical equipment, incubators and surplus furniture was beginning its journey to a new health unit in the southern region of Malawi.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has joined forces with the charitable organisation, Raising Malawi to deliver the equipment to a new paediatric surgery and intensive care unit in the country's commercial district of Blantyre.

The equipment has become surplus to requirements following the closures of Yorkhill the Southern General, the Western and old Victoria Infirmary.

It is being shipped to a new 50-bed children’s extension to the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.

John Brown, NHSGGC Chairman, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the children of Malawi, with whom NHSGGC already has strong links.”

“Thanks to our modernisation programme in Glasgow, we have not only had the opportunity to improve services for the people of the West of Scotland, but also to make a significant contribution of specialist equipment to this new paediatric surgery and intensive care unit in Malawi.”

"As the tenth poorest country in the world, medical equipment, facilities and staff are desperately needed in Malawi and high tech hospital medical equipment, beds and furniture kit will be shipped the 5,290 miles to Malawi.

Malawi’s health infrastructure is overburdened and vastly under-resourced and the country is ravaged by HIV and AIDS and severely affected by TB, Malaria and malnutrition.

The country’s health facilities are staggeringly sparse, with severe shortages of medical staff, medicine and even anaesthetics for operations.

So chronic is the country’s shortage of medical staff that on average there is only one doctor per 100,000 people.

John McGarrity, Technical Manager Medical Equipment Management, NHSGGC, has been heavily involved in pulling the surplus equipment together and will fly out to Malawi later this year to oversee the distribution of the equipment.

He said: “Thanks to international aid projects some progress is now being made. However, hospitals still have very little equipment and there is an acute shortage of trained medical staff.

“I am delighted that our own hospital modernisation programme has allowed us to take part in such a valuable humanitarian project.

“It should also reassure staff and the public that our decommissioned equipment is being put to use to a very worthy cause.”

Sarah Ezzy, Executive Director of Raising Malawi said: “We are deeply grateful for this partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

“This equipment donation to the new paediatric surgery and intensive care facility will have an enormous impact on the hospital’s ability to deliver critical care to the children of Malawi.”