A DOCTOR who has just returned from disaster hit Haiti has laid bare the agonising difficulties of her time helping sick mothers and babies.

Dr Sylvia Garry from Marlow revealed the pain and frustration of watching infants die every day and said the country has a long way to go.

Dr Garry, who spent seven months on the island, which was wrecked by an eathquake two years ago, has been working with humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders UK.

The aim of her efforts were to aid high risk pregnant women and their babies. There are high numbers of women in Port au Prince with pregnancies complicated by various difficult medical problems and her unit functioned as an emergency and intensive care facility.

The former Sir William Borlase's Grammar School pupil found it an extremely hard assignment.

She said: "There are daily emergencies, babies are frequently born very ill as their mothers are also very unwell."

Infections and premature births are high, with poor hygiene in the temporary camps many have to live in.

Dr Garry, also a former Danesfield School pupil, said: "I was frequently frustrated by the limitations of care. Some may consider that Haiti is no longer an emergency, how can it be more than two years after the earthquake?

"I watched babies die every day because I didn't have the resources available to treat them, something I would have available in any hospital I've previously worked at in the UK.

"Medications, X-rays,scans, blood tests, cultures - these are all things that are widely available in the developed world.

"There are always 'miracle' stories, but lets be honest - the better the health care system, the greater the number of surviving 'miracle' babies. Haiti still has a long way to go."

However, she said her work had been rewarding, especially a new 'kangaroo mother unit' which has helped numerous low birth weight premature babies. For more about her work and the project in Haiti visit: http://www.msf.org.uk/