AN ORTHOPAEDIC surgeon has sent lifesaving supplies to India.

Yousufuddin Shaik, who works at The Montefiore Hospital in Hove, has sent 400 oxygen concentrators, which help filter and generate medical grade oxygen for patients, to Gatwick airport so they can be flown to Hyderabad city in India.

The foot and ankle consultant had been working with local charities and Medical Aid International, who work to improve healthcare in developing countries, to refurbish the oxygen concentrators. He also raised almost £15,000 through a just giving page.

Mr Shaik has relatives who still live in his home city of Hyderabad, including his parents and his parents-in-law said:

He said: “We have had donations from family, friends, and work colleagues, it has been amazing.

“I have been very concerned for my family, but when you keep seeing those video clips on television of what is happening in India and people dying just because of a lack of oxygen, I had to do something.”

Along with the oxygen concentrators, there will also be 400,000 face masks and 10 CPAP machines, a machine that helps people breathe, sent to Hyderabad. The supplies will be sent on two separate flights, one this weekend and the second one will be next week.

Mr Shaik said: “There have been two problems out in India, one is the lack of oxygen and the other is the black-market trade of oxygen concentrators.

“Together myself, my colleagues and local charities have put in stringent measures to makes sure these concentrators reach the people and the hospitals which need them.

Four hundred oxygen cylinders is not a lot, but each one will help more than one life.”