A PHILANTHROPIST living in Malmesbury is helping to save lives in his home country of Bangladesh.

Badrul Amin, 52, has been attending auctions at the Hilditch Group auction rooms in Malmesbury for more than 15 years, buying up medical equipment to send back to severely underequipped hospitals in Bangladesh.

At the end of July he donated vital medical equipment to Lions Children Hospital in Sylhet, Badrul’s home city in north-east Bangladesh, funded from money out of his own pocket.

It is the only charitable children hospital in the area, which serves millions of poor and needy children and mothers.

The equipment included a screening audiometer (a hearing tester), a nebuliser machine, a foetal doppler and a laryngoscope.

The most important piece of equipment was a baby respiration and apnoea monitor, which is a small but expensive device which senses the breathing pattern once fitted to a baby’s chest.

It is a lifesaving device in cases of cot death and breathing related conditions which, according to World Health Organisation guidelines, no paediatric or baby unit should operate without.

Badrul originally traded catering machinery and regularly attended the Hilditch auction rooms, who eventually started trading hospital equipment.

On advice from traders who would stay with his brother when visiting the auction rooms, Badrul began to buy up equipment to send back to his home country.

“I thought I needed to support the poor countries,” he said.

“I have memories of the clinics back home that do not have any equipment whatsoever.

“It kept playing on my mind how I can help and I saw all a lot of doctors come to Malmesbury to buy equipment.

“Many children hospitals do not have these small equipment devices, which cost around £5,000, which is a lot of money in those countries.

“To this day I have been funding entirely from my own heart and profits from my business.

“It’s my way to give something back to the country I was born in.”

Badrul’s daughter, former Malmesbury School pupil Shaima Begom, was part of the team at Imperial College that make ground-breaking steps to developing a universal flu vaccine.

“Both of my daughters are medical scientists, so they give me a lot support and help with buying the right things,” he said.

Getting the equipment to Bangladesh was no mean feat, due to strict import regulations, however with the help of north Wiltshire MP, James Gray, Badrul got his paperwork cleared.

“Even though I’m donating, the customs in Bangladesh look at it in different way,” said Badrul.

“It was a two year battle to get the paperwork cleared and the application hit a lot of stumbling blocks.

“Mr Gray was writing countless letters to get this cleared and liaised with Bangladesh government. He kept on supporting me at every point.”

James Gray said Badrul was doing “very good work indeed”.

“Badrul has been doing a rather useful thing for years, buying up old medical equipment from the NHS and installing it in Bangledesh,” he said.

“The equipment is not needed her so it is being put to good use.

“When there were a few complications with regards to his paperwork I helped where I could.

“He has a big family in Malmesbury who are a good bunch.”