GENEROUS Malmesbury businessman Badrul Amin is spearheading a new fundraising campaign to build the first cancer hospital in Bangladesh.

More than 150,000 Bangladeshi die each year because hospitals lack advanced treatment facilities.

Mr Amin, 40, of Alexander Road says he is now on a mission to alleviate their needless suffering.

The philanthropist, who owns Al Amin Catering in Malmesbury, visited his homeland in June to donate 400 items of surplus NHS equipment to hospitals.

During his tour of the country he saw the foundations of a new 500-bed Ahsania Cancer Mission Hospital being built and pledged to help.

Now, together with other members of the Bangladeshi expatriate community, he is lobbying decision-makers to raise the millions of pounds necessary to fund the project.

Mr Amin has been buying medical equipment from Hilditch Auction House on the Gloucester Road Industrial Estate, to dispatch to Bangladeshi hospitals since 2002.

At the auction, where he regularly trades as part his business, out of date equipment is sold at a fraction of the cost price.

But although considered obsolete here, Mr Amin said it is urgently needed by the cancer hospital.

He said: "There are hardly any cancer facilities at all in Bangladesh right now. We have many good doctors but without the proper resources they cannot treat the sick people. Treating cancer patients is one of the most difficult jobs because you see hundreds of people dying a painful death.

"But if the machines I bring over from Britain help people spend their remaining days more peacefully and in dignity then I am happy. Getting this cancer hospital going is so important. It would help to give treatment to the 1.5 million people suffering there."

Helping his homeland has always been Mr Amin's ambition.

He left the third-world country with his parents when he was eight in search of a better life in Britain.

He has prospered after building a successful business, but he never forgets the needs of the Bangladeshi.

He said: "In Britain people are accustomed to a new TV, new car or new fridge. We take things for granted.

"When there is a minor fault with some piece of equipment we just throw it out. The result is we do not appreciate what we have. When I am in Bangladesh I see people who have hardly anything and are fighting to survive. I have the capacity to make a difference."

Malmesbury Mayor Patrick Goldstone and Dr Pickering from Gable House Surgery joined him at a fundraising appeal at the Spice of Bengal restaurant in Calne last Friday.

Coun Goldstone urged Malmesbury people to support the project.

He said: "I think his work is very very impressive and he is a credit to the town. I feel we must give the moral support to him.

"It is an immense shame that NHS equipment ends up being put into skips when it could be sent to third-world countries which need it."

The Bangladeshi government has recognised Mr Amin's work and awarded him a special certificate to mark his efforts.

Mr Amin said: "Most of us could do without so many of the things we claim to need."