AMBULANCE staff from the region are to travel to India to bring help to the world’s poorest city.

Four members of staff from West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust will use their expertiseto treat the poor in Calcutta.

They will help the Calcutta Rescue Fund charity in the running of its outreach clinics in the city during its most critical time of year, the end of the monsoon season.

Gill Bennett, director of nursing quality and primary care; Rob Cole, regional head of clinical practice for mental health; Andy Bates, regional head of clinical practice for infection prevention and control; and Christine Curtis, regional head of women and children, will fly out to Calcutta on Monday and then return two weeks later.

Eight clinics operate in slum areas treating people for illnesses including malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases in addition to malnutrition and a range of wounds.

Using their own annual leave and funded through individual sponsorship, they will apply their expertise to improve infection control at the clinics and train and assess local staff.

“We’ll deal with patients with infections in the poorest city in the world at the most dangerous time of the year for them, the end of the monsoon season,” said Mr Bates.

Experts say the clinics – which are dismantled each night – treat 400 to 500 people a day, some of whom will have walked all day to get medical help.

“We’ll be working in temperatures of 35 degrees celsius with 98 per cent humidity,” said Mr Bates.

“Everywhere is flooded and the mosquitoes are coming out. There are rubbish dumps and open sewage.

“The people we’ll be treating live on the streets or in shacks in small villages on scrubland with no access; many families sharing the same shack with no running water and no sanitation.

“It should be very interesting. We will certainly see how the other half live.”

Anyone who would like to find out more about what the team faces or the Calcutta Rescue Fund can log on to calcuttarescue.org