Burns specialists from Wakefield hospital talk 'pineapple power' at plastic surgery conference in Pakistan

Mr Umair Anwar and Dr Brendan Sloan, from the Wakefield hospital, were speakers at the gathering which looked at education and advice on enzymatic burn debridement.

Enzymatic debridement is a technique for treating a burn wound, which involves using an enzyme paste made from a pineapple plant to remove damaged tissue.

Dr Sloan, Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which covers Pinderfields Hospital, said: “Pinderfields has been at the forefront of adopting this technique and is possibly the largest volume user of enzymatic debridement in the UK.

“The burden of burn injuries in Pakistan is huge; much greater than what we see in the UK, and what we saw while visiting the centres in Multan, Islamabad and Rawalpindi was very impressive - both in terms of volume, and in terms of outcome.

"There is clearly a great deal we can learn from each other, and the hope is to establish regular links between the centres.

"The potential for collaboration, both in research, and in training, is extremely exciting, and should be of benefit to patients in both countries.”

Mr Anwar, Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the Trust said: ““We are very proud to be one of the global specialists in enzymatic debridement which has been shown to be a more precise way to excise burn wounds with decreased bleeding, decreased hospital stay and decreased need for skin grafting. All that is usually possible without even taking the patient to theatre."

The pair have set up collaborative groups with two of the Pakistan centres since their return to West Yorkshire and are already collecting data to look at similarities and differences between the services.

This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of collaborative projects, with an intention to develop an exchange program to allow clinicians to gain experience in different healthcare systems.