IofC worker Patrick Colquhoun, 71, has been given the MBE in Queen Elizabeth II's birthday honours, 2010, for 'services to healthcare abroad'. The award is in recognition of his 20 years of commitment to improving medical services in Romania, through the Cambridge-based charity 'Medical Support in Romania' which he founded.
The Cambridge News, 12 June, reports: 'Since starting in 1990, the charity has raised £1.4 million to improve healthcare in the eastern European state, sent £4.1 million of medical equipment to Romanian hospitals and arranged for almost 400 visits by British medics. He said: "It all started when I was watching a TV programme about Romania with my 11-year-old daughter Rhona, who said to me: 'What are you going to do about it?' Everything started from there".'
Patrick has made 63 visits to Romania and 225 UK hospital staff have made 375 visits. A further 19 people have visited Romania 27 times to teach English in the hospitals and, says Patrick, 53 others have 'risked their necks' driving with him to Romania. For their part, Romanian healthcare staff have made 72 visits to the UK.
The Cambridge News in its Opinion editorial column comments, under the headline 'Honours deserved': 'Our region has done well in the latest batch of Queen's Birthday Honours. Senior academics in Cambridge are among the recipients, as well as people such as Girton's [Cambridge suburb] Patrick Colquhoun, whose medical trips to Romania have saved countless lives.' Without the honours system, the paper continues, 'many of the great contributions made to our society, and the people who selflessly make them, would go unsung. Our congratulations to all of those honoured today.'
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