A DOCTOR who introduced new surgical techniques to a hospital and raised thousands for the equipment needed has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Dr Kumar Das, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, prides himself on never having a day off in 39 years.

He has worked in trauma and orthopaedic surgery at the Friarage for 29 years.

Dr Das started his career in 1975 at Newport, Gwent, before moving to Carlisle and then to Northallerton.

He said: “I’m delighted and incredibly humbled to have been given this honour.

“I came to Northallerton as a registrar in 1985 and in the late 1980s and early 1990s I brought new surgical techniques to the Friarage for trauma patients.”

Dr Das introduced a procedure called closed inter-locking nail, where a fracture could be nailed together, allowing a patient to be mobile within days of the operation.

He raised £9,000 in six weeks to buy the nailing system for long bone fractures.

He said: “With long bone fractures people used to be in bed for about three months but this surgical procedure allows people to get up and moving much sooner.

“I don’t do trauma anymore – I work on elective orthopaedic surgery, on joints.

Dr Das, 64, who lives in Romanby, Northallerton with his wife and daughter, added: “It warms my heart to receive this honour – I can’t really believe it.

“I am just doing the job I love to the best of my ability, and I’m very lucky to work with the most fantastic people and a very good hospital trust that looks after its employees.”