David Nott, right, performing an operation in the hospital in Rutshuru, in the Congo

A doctor volunteering in war-torn Congo performed a complex amputation to save a boy’s life by following instructions sent by text message from a colleague in London.

David Nott, 52, a vascular surgeon, was working for a Medicins Sans Frontieres hospital in the eastern town of Rutshuru, an area ravaged by bloody battles between Congolese and rebel troops.

Among the hundreds of wounded soldiers and civilians brought into the hospital in October was a 16-year-old boy who had been caught in the midst of a gun fight between advancing combatants in a forest in the Nyanzale region.

A doctor had performed an amputation, but the stump had become gangrenous.

When Dr Nott saw him, what remained of his upper arm was severely infected. “He had about two or three days to live when I saw him,” he said.