A MOTHER whose life was saved by a Basingstoke doctor is now helping other Ugandan people to have the same surgery.

Specioza Tusiime had life-saving surgery on her jaw to remove a tumour after Dr Keith Thomson, a retired former consultant anaesthetist at Basingstoke hospital, helped raise the funds to pay for the operation.

As previously reported in The Gazette, Dr Thomson was visiting Hoima in Uganda in May 2014 with a team from Basingstoke Hoima Partnership for Health (BHPH) when he met Specioza at a church service, where the 36-year-old was singing in the choir.

Dr Thomson, who has spent time as a volunteer medical expert with the charity Mercy Ship, was visiting Uganda to provide healthcare to the poor, and recognised that Specioza had an obvious tumour on her lower jaw.

But when he spoke to the mother-of-two after the service he discovered that she had been unable to find anyone to treat her because of a lack of money.

The doctor knew that if the tumour was not operated on, Specioza would die, so he resolved to help her by asking for donations from friends and family back home in the UK.

Three months later Specioza had the life-saving surgery.

She is now involved with a project to help another four people have the same surgery, and will act as their guide when they make the journey from Hoima to Corsu Hospital for the operation.

Dr Thomson said: “They are booked to travel together with Specioza as a guide in a mini-van from Hoima to Corsu Hospital on February 8, for assessment by Dr George.”

The patients are 16-year-old Joseph, 20-year-old Christine, 27-year-old Henry and 42-year-old Susan, who have all had a jaw tumour growing for at least three years.

Dr Thomson said: “Their common bond is that none of them have enough money to receive treatment within the healthcare structure in Uganda. There is no maxillofacial surgeon in their local hospital in Hoima and the waiting list at Mulago Hospital in Kampala is very long.”

He added: “The plan is unique because it involves Ugandans finding the patients and a Ugandan surgeon treating them in a Ugandan hospital.”

Money will be raised by Dr Thomson to pay for the surgery, which costs around £1,200, but everything else will be left to the Ugandans to organise.

He said: “I’m very excited about it. It’s about Africans sourcing the patients and taking them to the hospital and then being seen by African doctors.”

To donate towards the cost of the jaw surgery visit http://bit.ly/1TS7hyv.