Bristol University graduate made OBE for work in India

Dr Cat Morris (right) and Dr Mary Cusack also look after seven orphans, some of whom need round-the-clock care

A doctor who has been providing healthcare and support to some of the world's poorest children has been honoured with an OBE.

Dr Cat Morris, who studied medicine at the University of Bristol, has been working in India for 15 years.

She said she focuses on education and childcare as well as health "to provide the full package so children can thrive."

A government spokesperson called her work a "great credit to the UK".

Dr Morris had worked in the NHS and in clinics in Uganda and Darwin, Australia when she was offered the chance to use her skills as a paediatrician on the sub-continent.

'Signs of leprosy'

She said she was initially reluctant as she hoped to return to Uganda, but spent two weeks in India with her friend and colleague Dr Mary Cusack volunteering as a paediatrician.

Dr Morris said: "A moment that really struck home was visiting a leper colony. Many of the adults had fingers and noses missing, but we also saw children showing signs of leprosy.

"We couldn't understand why kids were suffering from a totally treatable disease. It turned out the drugs weren't making it to them, they were being sold on the black market."

The team run an ambulance service in India

Back in the UK, she said her and Dr Cusack "couldn't get the country out of our heads." So they returned, spending five years working for NGO's in some of India's most deprived areas.

Dr Morris said in that time the pair saw "the good, the bad and the ugly."

"Half of Indian children are abused, and a third of the world's poorest children are in India," she said.

They set-up NGO, Love the One, in 2012 which offers healthcare, education and childcare in the impoverished state of Odisha, on the Bay of Bengal, India.

Four million meals

They wanted to focus on education and childcare as well as health to help children "thrive."

The NGO now has 135 staff and has helped thousands of children.

Dr Cat Morris (right) and Dr Cusack said they were "honoured, humbled and overwhelmed" to receive the award on behalf of their team

During the pandemic, which Dr Morris described as "horrific", the team distributed education packages, mobile phones for online learning and more than four million meals.

The second wave particularly took a huge toll on the community, and led to the death of one of the children cared for by the NGO.

Sarah Purdy, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience at the University of Bristol, said: "Dr Cat Morris' life-changing work is inspiring and uplifting, and I can think of no better person to receive an OBE.

"It is always hugely heart-warming to see Bristol graduates using the skills they learnt with us to do good in the world."

Dr Morris and her colleague Dr Cusack were awarded the OBE for services to Healthcare and Child Welfare in India on 1 January.