MEDICAL professionals and healthcare staff are being urged to volunteer on overseas aid projects.

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is looking for 260 healthcare professionals to work in some of the world’s poorest countries over the coming 12 months.

When Oliver Shipp decided to volunteer as a health management adviser in Cambodia, he expected to come home with the satisfaction of making a difference to an impoverished country.

He did not anticipate returning home with a new girlfriend, Katja Horsch.

Mr Shipp, 38, who lives in East Oxford with his partner, joked: “All my expectations of volunteering were met but the new girlfriend and the new life back here were an added bonus.”

Both Mr Shipp and Miss Horsch, a nurse and trainee midwife, are encouraging others to follow their example.

Mr Shipp said: “It was quite a shock to the system but I met some wonderful people, learned a helluva lot and hopefully made things a bit better.”

Olly Jefferis, 33, volunteered in Malawi as a paediatric lecturer from October 2010 to September last year, and from April 2006 to June 2007, and now works as a pediatrician at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

He described his experience as “challenging, rewarding and a lot of hard work” and believed his efforts in Malawi had made a difference.

He said: “Nothing quite compares to discovering that you have taught someone something that they have used to save a child’s life.”

l To find out more about volunteering with VSO, visit vso.org.uk/volunteer Volunteers receive full training, flights, accommodation and an allowance to cover basic costs.