FlySpec is an excellent example of how Meal a Day works with an NGO to provide a solution to those in need. FlySpec is a unique established flying medical charity in Zambia. Roughly two and a half times the size of the British Isles, and with poor roads, expensive travel, and high levels of poverty, it is impossible for the vast majority of Zambia’s population to receive high-level medical attention. So FlySpec brings the doctors to them! Meal a Day operates medical operations and supplies. Here’s how peoples lives are changed through FlySpec:

“The accident shattered your leg. Someone called an ambulance. You were at hospital within 15 minutes and in surgery later that evening. A couple of months in plaster, almost back to normal… that is if you are lucky enough to live in the ‘developed world’. If you lived in rural Africa the reality would be very different. Your future would probably be a lifetime of pain and disability FlySpec is a team of surgeons who travel the length and breadth of Zambia, using light aircraft or travelling by road, to reach patients in need of orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery and obstetric fistula repair. It’s the only way that patients in remote areas are ever going to get treatment – they are completely out of reach of existing specialist services. The Zambian healthcare budget is very small and concentrates largely on infectious diseases. FlySpec’s work is therefore extremely important, caring for those disadvantaged by the lack of infrastructure. The team is led by Prof. John Jellis OBE who, until he turned 70 recently, piloted a plane and performed orthopaedic surgery.

The surgery is now undertaken by Mr Goran Jovic (Plastic/ Reconstructive Surgeon), also a pilot, and seven other surgeons. During 2012 the team made 87 visits, travelled over 47,000 miles, saw 4821 patients and performed 1431 operations. For free.
Christadelphian Meal a Day (CMaD) has made contributions to the work of FlySpec for many years.