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Achievements of Rotary in Scotland Recognised in Parliament

Achievements of Rotary in Scotland Recognised in Parliament

A number of projects led by Rotary members in Scotland had their achievements recognised in a debate in Scottish Parliament. Hosted by John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, the event focused on both local and international initiatives in areas such as increasing healthcare provision, tackling human trafficking and improving flood defences. For Peter […]

A number of projects led by Rotary members in Scotland had their achievements recognised in a debate in Scottish Parliament.

Hosted by John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, the event focused on both local and international initiatives in areas such as increasing healthcare provision, tackling human trafficking and improving flood defences.

For Peter Croan and Patricia Paterson, both members of the Rotary Club of Galashiels, their project bringing improved healthcare to Pakistan was over two years in the making.

In February 2014 during a Rotary awareness day at the Borders General Hospital, Melrose Doctor Amjad Gulzar Shaikh, a locum consultant orthopaedic surgeon, introduced himself to Patricia and explained that he undertook corrective surgery on children with polio in Pakistan.

After visiting the club a number of times before returning to his native country, Amjad was keen to utilise ten trailers, which were previously being used for breast cancer screening, which Peter had arranged to be made available by NHS Scotland.

Mobile Medical Unit Karachi

With the help of businesses and Rotarians in Pakistan, the trailers were shipped out to Karachi in July 2016 and are being used in rural areas to offer breast cancer screening, as mobile surgical theatres and as facilities to administer polio immunisations to young children.

The project forged strong relationships with Rotarians and organisations both in Scotland and Pakistan, including Amjad’s charity Rehabilitation Response, who ensured the empty space inside the units was filled with furniture to be donated to schools in Pakistan on arrival.

Peter and Patricia, who visited Karachi for the donation ceremony last year, hope that the project can be expanded further to provide an innovative platform to engage with the community while providing much needed medical care.

Two winners from the 2016 Champions of Change Awards were also celebrated. Robin Hamilton, of the Rotary club of Dunbar, whose involvement with the Kalimpong Project in Bengal, India has helped tackle the problem of human trafficking by providing shelter homes and Vocational Training Centres. Robin, with the help of 14 clubs and a Rotary Foundation Global Grant, has raised $70,000 since the commencement of the project in 2012.

Grant Stephen, of the Rotary Club of Duns, who was also a winner at the 2016 Awards, was involved in a project much closer to home. After raising more than £10,000 for Alzheimer’s Scotland, the club now runs a dementia café called Forget Me Not, and the members have been recognised as Dementia Friends.

The Southern Scottish Rotary District were recognised for the £15,000 it helped raise and donate for the victims of flooding in the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

This helped those affected by the floods to get the necessary equipment to better enable them to deal with any flooding which may occur in the future, including the building of new flood protection offices in Hawick.

Catch up on the debate on demand.

 

Published: Wednesday 29th March 2017

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