A TEAM of medical professionals headed up by a district councillor are set to make a second trip to an impoverished village in Nepal.

Following up on the “hugely successful” medical mission last year, Cllr Tina Knight will lead a team on a follow-up visit to Tang Ting – a remote mountainside village in an area where many of the gurkhas serving in the British Army originate from, including those at Carver Barracks in Wimbish.

Last year’s visit was organised by the Tang Ting Twinning Association (TTTA) to launch a regeneration scheme in the village, as well as provide medicine and supplies to the people.

Cllr Knight, honorary president of the TTTA, said she was looking forward to returning to Tang Ting, which was twinned with the villages of Wimbish and Debden in 2007.

She said: “In true Bond style, I shall arrive in Tang Ting by helicopter which will bring medicine, medical equipment and beds which have been purchased thanks to the support and generosity of people, not just in Debden and Wimbish, but surrounding places such as Saffron Walden.

“Last year was the first time a doctor and dentist had ever visited the village and people actually trekked four or five hours from surrounding areas just to see them. We will be going back to do further checks on the 350 children we did medical reports for last year – some of whom were given antibiotics to treat worms and other ailments – and about 80 adults too.”

The association’s eventual aim is to raise enough money to build a medical centre so that doctors trekking through the country can go and help out at a fully equipped facility.

Additional doctors and nurses will be joining some of the team that went on the mission last year, including Dr Ian Pearson, of Devonshire House Dental Surgery in Cambridge, who has donated a large amount of dental equipment for this year’s trip, which gets underway today (November 1).

The team will meet Nepalese doctors, nurses and dental assistants in Kathmandu and Pokhara before trekking to Tang Ting and another village in the area, Thak.

Nepal has the highest rate of malnutrition in the world with medical and dental care scarce, particularly in remote regions such as Tang Ting which has no accessible road network.

A quiz night has been arranged for Saturday, November 10, at Sibbards Barn, Debden to celebrate Diwali and raise funds for medicines and equipment for the medical mission to Nepal.

For further information on the medical mission, quiz night or the Tang Ting Twinning Association call 01799 540881 or visit tangting.org