Ms Mhairi Collie is the winner of Global Citizenship Award

Ms Mhairi Collie, one of our consultant colorectal surgeons, has been dedicating her time and skills to Uganda Childbirth Injury Fund.

She helped set it up in 2001 and took over as chairperson in 2018. She has spent the past 15 years dedicating her own time to travel to Uganda 2-3 times a year for 1-2 weeks at a time to help cure women who have sustained dreadful injuries during childbirth.

Women who suffer from childbirth injuries are often no more than girls, who have married in their teenage years with very little education and no access to good obstetric care. When the labour is obstructed, it often goes unrecognised, the baby dies and the woman is left with a ‘hole’ between the bladder and the vagina due to the pressure of the babies head stuck in the pelvis. This is known as an obstetric fistula which causes uncontrollable leakage of urine, faeces, or both. Many of them find themselves socially isolated as they can no longer attend church or visit the market. The husbands leave them and are often ostracised by their families with many suffering from depression.

Mhairi undertakes 40-50 operations during each mission. During each mission, she operates on complex cases and train local surgeons to perform these operations. A few of the local surgeons are now skilled enough to operate independently and leading teaching camps around the whole Uganda. She is currently planning to set up a recognised teaching program which involves local Ugandan surgical trainees, ward, theatre nurses and anaesthetic nurses to develop multidisciplinary teams who will be able to run fistula camps on their own.

Furthermore, she has set up another charity called Kamuli School Lunches for a girls’ school next to the hospital to provide lunch, so that girls can attend school, get educated, and grow up to avoid fistula during child birth.

Her enthusiasm and dedication is second to none. During the last 15 years, she has only taken a break from this work when she had her own children and returned to do these missions as soon as she was able to leave them with her support network of friends and family.

She tirelessly works to keep raising funds for the charity by organising charity events, seeking available grants and raising awareness of plight of these women.

She has been inspirational in every aspect of this charity and our team in Edinburgh is proud of her work.

Link

• Scottish Health Awards - https://www.scottishhealthawards.com/

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