A HAMPSHIRE dentist is swapping Eastleigh for East Africa.

Dr Peter Saund is a dental surgeon in Boyatt Wood, Eastleigh, and is Kenya-bound on a mission to train a doctor to carry out basic dentistry.

He will spend ten days in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, just outside Nairobi, providing a free outreach service to locals.

He said: “The situation is dire out there and people have to live with conditions we would never have to put up with.

“I just wanted to contribute in some way and I researched it and came across this charity.

“I will be going with the charity organisation Wings of Mercy.”

Dr Saund, a widowed father-of-two, will be flying out in October and says his family and patients have been very supportive.

He will be part of a team comprising five doctors, four nurses, a midwife assistant and four support workers.

He is aiming to raise £1,000 beforehand in order to buy medical instruments that he can leave there.

The conditions will be a far cry from his usual workplace, where Dr Saund looks after about 2,000 patients – in Kibera the doctor is looking after more than 30,000.

“Although the very basic room in which the dentistry is carried out has electricity, water is only available through the tap for only a few hours per day, if at all. There is also a very high rate of HIV there and tools are primitive and sterilised in a pressure cooker over a coal fire,” Dr Saund said.

To help Dr Saund, visit justgiving.com/petersaund.