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The Vision of the IBT
Set up in 2007, the Ian Burnell Trust (IBT) represents a source of monetary funding for medical students applying to go on electives in countries where their skills and resources are particularly needed.
In 2008, 11 applicants were accepted for IBT funding. These students then went to various hospitals across Africa, South America and South Asia, where they employed their medical training and developed ideas and practices within the hospitals they worked in.
In 2009, another group of Cardiff-based students set out across the world with money for a whole range of worthwhile purposes, and applications for 2010 have begun.
The Trust provides a fantastic opportunity for people to spend time changing other people’s lives as well as their own, and seeks to build relationships with the hospitals visited for future applicants to benefit from as well.
Origins of the IBT
The Trust was set up in memory of Ian Burnell, an enthusiastic and passionate individual who, having completed his first year as a junior doctor in Cardiff's Heath hospital, had made plans to spend a year working in a rural hospital in South Africa. Following his tragic death in May 2007, his family and friends sought to honour his legacy by allowing like-minded individuals to carry on his medical work abroad. The IBT seeks to do so by allowing individuals to apply to the Trust for small grants, envisaged to be for medical capital projects in clinics and hospitals overseas.
Outworkings of the IBT
The application procedure for the IBT works as follows:
Applicants contact the Trustees with an outline of their proposals, providing evidence that the project is for the benefit of the public served by the associated partner institution, and not for the benefit of an individual or the institution.
Applicants then demonstrate that they have gained the agreement of any partner institution involved in their project (for example, contacting the hospital they intend to work within), initialise the implementation of the project and provide receipt of expense or verified quotes before receiving grant monies.
Here are some examples of funding applications from the 2008 applicants:
Kate Jackson spent her medical elective in Kilimatinde, Tanzania. To ask for funding, she wrote:
"It is a 150 bed hospital in the edge of the Rift Valley where I hope to experience rural medicine in the developing world. This hospital provides services to the small community of Kilimatinde whose people rely on foreign aid and government funding to survive. The hospital has wards that specialise in Paediatrics, Obstetrics, Tuberculosis and HIV, and I hope to gain invaluable experiences in these fields in a setting which is not found in the United Kingdom. The lack of fundamental equipment and medical staff means that I will be involved in all aspects of the hospital environment in Kilimatinde, which may include running my own patient clinics, delivering babies, minor surgery and taking ward rounds. The responsibility I will be dealt is vast and will be excellent in grounding me for my foundation years training".
IBT money will be spent on a variety of basic supplies, including disposable gloves, face masks, venepuncture equipment, textbooks, emergency HIV prophylaxis, otoscopes and cannulae.
Miranda Ashton spent her elective in Zomba Central Hospital, Malawi. She wrote to us with the following information:
"This hospital is situated in South Malawi, about an hour from the town of Balantyre. It holds 600 beds and has 4 main departments: paediatrics, general medicine, general surgery and obs & gynae. It also has a malnutrition unit and a TB isolation ward. I am applying for funding to take as much basic medical equipment with me as I can fit in my luggage allowance. I have been in touch with the hospital director to enquire as to whether they are in need of anything specific and have been told that they are often short of basic equipment such as catheters, feeding tubes for children, cannulas as well as simple drugs and dressings. I have read reports from other students who have been on this elective who say that the patients often have to walk miles to get any medical attention and therefore many diseases present late. I intend to spend a month in both paediatrics and general medicine. According to other students this is a very hands-on elective and the doctors are happy to teach, despite being totally understaffed and under-equipped. I would therefore like to take as much equipment with me as I can to be of some benefit to such an under-resourced hospital, as well as a sign of my appreciation for such a valuable learning opportunity".
If you would like to read up on how these, and other applicants, got on with their electives, please click on 'Student stories'.
If you would like to apply to the IBT for funding, or would like to support the Trust financially, please visit the 'Contact' page for further details.
Please note that, at present, IBT funding is only available to medical students in Wales. However, if you are not based in Wales but are still interested in receiving funding, please contact us at the relevant address with details of your project plans and we will do our best to accommodate you.
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