A GP from Wrexham with a fear of heights abseiled off a cliff in South Africa to raise funds for training future medics.

Dr Paul Myers, a former chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, undertook the daunting challenge to raise funds for Dolen Cymru to continue their work of providing vital medical training in the Lesotho, South Africa.

Speaking about the 670ft abseil down Maletsunyane Falls, Dr Myers said: “As I descended the nearby waterfall was blown off course by the crosswind and I got drenched. I am scared of heights, getting on a bit, and the rope expanded as it got wet so it was not easy to push though.

“Some of the descent was free fall and I was blown about a bit But I made it to the bottom unaided. Once I had physically recovered and completed the tricky walk back out of the gorge, I felt great.”

Dr Myers says that Lesotho has the highest recorded rate of suicide in Africa. He adds that people are often reluctant to admit to mental health problems and local clinicians are either afraid or lack confidence to deal with them.

Talking about the cause he was raising funds for, Dr Myers said: “Mental health services are poorly resourced throughout much of the world but particularly so in Lesotho. Mental health disorders account for 14 per cent of the global health burden.

“Dolen Cymru was asked by the Lesotho Ministry of Health to support roll out of the WHO mhGAP programme and we have been training over 120 front-line health workers. We now want to train a cadre of trainers to make the programme sustainable.

“Volunteers from RCGP Wales have also been delivering the mental health component of the curriculum to family medicine trainees. The overwhelmed single mental health hospital (without any psychiatrist) needs doctors in district hospital to have improved competencies in mental health.”

Donations to Dr Myers cause can be submitted online at www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/lesothoabseil.