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David Nott, on working as a surgeon on the front line

David talks about the harrowing decisions that sometimes have to be made in a war zone.

David Nott talks about working in Gaza City during the 2014 conflict and reveals harrowing decisions that sometimes have to be made in a war zone.

He works across three London hospitals performing general, vascular, trauma & reconstructive surgery.

In addition, for the past two decades, he’s spent several weeks every year working in conflict zones around the world for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was brought up by his grandparents until he was four while his parents finished their training – his Welsh mother became a nurse, his Indo-Burmese father an orthopaedic surgeon. He studied medicine at St Andrews University and completed his medical and surgical training in Manchester and Liverpool before becoming a consultant general and vascular surgeon working in London.

He first volunteered to go into a war zone in 1993 when he travelled to Sarajevo. Since then he has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Haiti, Yemen, Nepa, Gaza and Syria.

In 2016 he and his wife, Elly, set up the David Nott Foundation, a charity which funds the training of local doctors to work in conflict zones and hostile environments.

First broadcast on Radio 4, 5 June 2016.

Release date:

Duration:

1 minute

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest David Nott

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