Medical staff from Bradford Royal Infirmary have used their emergency care skills to help victims of the South Asian earthquake disaster.

Eight volunteers who work in the Accident and Emergency department at the infirmary have given up their free time by taking some annual leave to travel to Pakistan to help out at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi.

Clinical fellow Dr Muhammad Imran Rashid, associate specialist Ahmed Akhtar, GP Dr Amiar Kahn, staff nurse Erfan Hussain, staff nurse Yasar Arafat, GP in training Tabasun Hussain Shar, registrar plastic surgeon Sohil Akhtar and paediatrician in training Khalid Munir, used their A&E skills to create a wound clinic.

The volunteers worked flat out - 12 to 14 hours a day - preparing patients for further medical attention.

Broken bones were the main injuries, but the Holy Family Hospital did not have the resources to provide effective treatment.

Dr Rashid said: "There were so many wounds to treat and, with no orthopaedic department in the hospital, it was difficult to give everyone access to the level of care that they needed."

In the aftermath of the earthquake the tireless work of the Bradford volunteers, who worked with orthopaedic doctors from London and Manchester, ensured that broken bones could be treated in a temporary orthopaedic theatre and department.

Now that the infirmary team have returned home, the orthopaedic department they have created at the Holy Family Hospital continues to be staffed on rotation by volunteers from Denmark and the UK.

But Dr Rashid said that the situation there was still desperate.

He said: "The bones have been fixed. What is now needed is UK-trained plastic surgeons who would have the skills to cover the wounds."

Several of the eight volunteers - including Dr Rashid - say that they are planning to return to the region to give more help.

Many other staff from Bradford Teaching Hospitals have flown out to earthquake-struck areas, taking with them supplies of equipment such as bandages, plasters, dressings, local anaesthetics and metallic screws.

But there are still calls for these supplies to continue to be delivered. Artificial limbs for amputees are desperately needed.

Also in high demand are specialist orthopaedic, plastic and general surgeons and trauma and general nursing staff.

Dilshad Khan, the equality and diversity officer at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, has been working as part of the community disaster relief group to make sure the people of the quake-struck region continue to get the help they need.