PIONEERING work by North-East medics to train their counterparts in Tanzania is being documented by film-makers from Teesside University.

Dave McPhee and Dominic Dunn, from the university's Aurora House Productions, shadowed doctors from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation trust when they visited the East African country to teach the latest keyhole surgery techniques.

They are making a 90-minute documentary which they hope to complete this spring.

The film sets out to capture the achievements of a 17-year partnership between Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in northern Tanzania and Northumbria Healthcare, one of the UK’s leading NHS trusts.

Dave McPhee, creative director at Aurora House, said: “Travelling to Tanzania and filming for this documentary was a real eye-opener.

"We had extremely privileged access in the hospital.

"It’s about ingenuity, collaboration and using the resources they can get out there to provide modern medicine.

“At first you see the over-crowding and the general state of the hospital, but then you see the incredible work and service the doctors and nurses are providing with so little. And you can see the strong friendships that have built up over the years of working together. This really comes out in the film.

Once the documentary is complete, it will be shown at film festivals as well as being pitched it to broadcasters.

Liam Horgan, consultant surgeon at Northumbria Healthcare, said: ‘When I first set off to volunteer in Tanzania in 2003 I had no idea that I would meet a surgeon, Dr Kondo, who would work with me on a project which would take over the next 13 years of our lives.

“It seems incredible looking back that we actually did it – introduced laparoscopic surgery to Tanzania, used tele-mentoring successfully and more recently introduced day case laparoscopic surgery – when the odds seems so much against us at times."