A selfless West Lothian nurse returning from helping in Malawi will now get to celebrate Christmas with his family after the UK’s travel red list was scrapped.
John Irvine had faced spending the festive period in a quarantine hotel when he returned to Scotland from helping with Malawi’s Covid response this week.
The 50 year old has been training intensive care and A&E medics on how to save critically ill patients on a deployment with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office funded UK Emergency Medical Team.
NHS Lothian bank nurse John had selflessly taken the decision to extend his stay by two weeks following the discovery of the omicron variant in South Africa last month.
But arrivals from the 11 African countries put on the red list will no longer need to quarantine after the measure was lifted – as long as they test negative for covid.
Relieved John, from Linlithgow, said: “It’s great news I will be able to enjoy a normal Christmas with my family, although it means I’ll now need to make a mad dash to the shops to buy some presents.
“I return on Thursday and with Malawi having been put on the red list, I faced being sent straight to a quarantine hotel for two weeks. I’d have spent Christmas and New Year under lock and key.
“My parents have the whole family round and it’s the only time we all get together, so I’m delighted that the travel restrictions have been lifted.
“Having spent over two months working hard helping Malawi in its fight against Covid, I was not looking forward to spending the festive period stuck in a hotel room on my own.”
Former soldier John added: “We had been due to return from our deployment with the UK-EMT on December 9, but I had extended my stay to support the opening of a maternity war for pregnant women with covid and to continue much needed training around Malawi.
“The discovery of omicron meant that Malawi was then put on the red list. I knew my decision to stay on would mean sacrificing Christmas but the training we have been delivering will save lives.”
John flew out for his eight-week deployment on October 14 following a request for support from the Malawi Ministry of Health.
The UK-EMT is the UK Government’s frontline response to humanitarian crisis overseas. John is on 24-hour standby for a deployment after registering with Manchester-based medical aid charity UK-Med.
The UK has been at the forefront of the global response to Covid-19, kickstarting the COVAX facility in 2020, and investing £90 million to support the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
In addition to supporting the immediate humanitarian response in Malawi with £9.67m, and co- funding the COVAX vaccines that Malawi has received, the UK has also provided 119,040 vaccines bilaterally so far.
UK aid pays for EMT staffs’ regular roles to be backfilled to ensure the NHS is not impacted. John has been based at Kamuzu Hospital, Lilongwe and has also delivered training in the northern districts of Rhumpi and Chitipa.
The UK-EMT has been helping to improve Malawi’s patient referral system by enabling health care teams to identify early warning signs of patient deterioration to save lives.
Critical care nurse John, predominantly based at the Royal Infirmary, explained: “The pandemic will never be over unless we use our expertise and vaccines to help poorer countries beat Covid. Virus do not respect borders.
“The UK was at the sharp end of the first wave of the Covid pandemic, so we’ve learned a lot about how patients best respond and treatments and drugs to use.
“The UK-EMT can now pass on this knowledge to health systems that are not as well-resourced as the NHS to help them save lives and get on top of this.
“I’ve been working alongside Malawian nurses and mentoring them and offering suggestions of different approaches to patient care based on the experience we’ve gained combating Covid in the UK. We can offer practical advice.”
Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, said: “The UK Government is proud that brave Scottish medics like John Irvine are playing a crucial role in the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The UK Medical Emergency Team pools world-leading expertise from across Britain and has been making a real difference helping to strengthen Malawi’s ability to respond to Covid-19.
“Viruses do not respect borders and the world cannot beat Covid and stop new variant emerging unless we work together to save lives.”
Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here
