MICROWAVE WAND STOPS AMPUTATION

Scots students invent revolutionary medical gizmo

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

TWO Scots students created a microwave device that is saving people around the world from having their legs amputated.

The gadget was invented by Gary Beale and Eamon McErlean while they were studying at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University.

Now called the Swift machine, it is being used to heal flesh-eating infections that can lead to amputations diabetes patients.

It works by zapping dead or dying flesh with microwaves to help it heal where other medication has failed. Barry Mayled, 73, was just hours away from having both his legs amputated below the knee after a simple verruca became infected and ulcerated.

It proved resistant to multiple treatments and over four years it spread to both feet, with painful growths behind his big toes which left him barely able to walk.