As its first charity member, Medi Tech Trust has been involved in InterSurgeon from the beginning. This month, we spoke to Mr Bob Lewis, one of the charity’s five voluntary Trustees. Mr Lewis comes from an education background, having owned and run language schools until 20 years ago, and founded Medi Tech Trust. He originally got involved 24 years ago to raise money to buy a laser machine and they had so many requests after that, they formed Medi Tech Trust.
Medi Tech Trust aims to “change lives through donating equipment and providing training”. This includes donating equipment to exclusively benefit patients at their local general practice surgeries in East Sussex, UK but also worldwide. They actively work globally including; 15 countries in Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and many more. Mr Lewis said that they have not encountered any barriers during their work to help communities in growing countries and war zones.
The Medi Tech Trust was brought to InterSurgeon by our late founder, Mr William Harkness. Mr Lewis said “InterSurgeon has the same ethos to improve and enhance the level of medical care that is given.” They have very kindly donated to InterSurgeon and Mr Lewis said “The return through InterSurgeon has been wonderful as it is growing.”
Although Medi Tech Trust has been keeping a low profile on InterSurgeon, in August 2021 they launched a new initiative called MediGive. This is a site that enables individuals and organisations to donate unwanted equipment and consumables including surgical supplies to individuals and organisations that need it. Mr Lewis describes it as “Online shopping, only free”. In the UK, much of the equipment unwanted by medical institutions and manufacturers can be used in other parts of the world. They also receive out-of-date stock which they can redistribute to overseas hospitals that require it. MediGive acts as a much needed intermediary between the donors and recipients. Mr Lewis says; “This has already exceeded our expectations.” They work with a small team of volunteers who ship all the unwanted equipment and consumables to its next needed location – mainly to African countries, Sri Lanka and the Ukraine.
Medi Tech Trust received the highest honour a charity can receive when it was presented with the Queens Award for Voluntary Services. Equivalent to a UK MBE the charity received this for its donations of PPE to hospitals, care homes and the vulnerable. As a result of their hard work, Mr Lewis was recognised as one of the 500 outstanding volunteers in the UK and crowned a Coronation Champion in 2023. Last October, InterSurgeon Urology Champion and Medi Tech Trust co-founding Trustee, Mr Graham Watson, was awarded the Albert Schweister International Teaching Award which is a global award given to one Urologist a year and the highest accolade for global training.
If you are involved in an NGO, Federation, Professional/Specialist Organisation or Academic Body, you can apply for free membership. You will be able to post offers, requests and events which will reach all of our InterSurgeon members. You can contact Medi Tech Trust through their profile on InterSurgeon.
