Businessman's £2.6m thank-you to hospital

One of the world's richest men has given a £2.6m thank-you to the hospital that saved his life.

One of the world's richest men has given a £2.6m thank-you to the hospital that saved his life.

Michael Kadoorie, a Hong Kong businessman, was left critically ill after his vintage Ferrari smashed into a ditch last summer. Surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford spent months rebuilding the 58-year-old's crushed pelvis.

Yesterday Mr Kadoorie, who is the 16th richest man on the planet, repaid their dedication with a cash boost for the hospital's trauma unit.

The donation includes £1.2m for a new building, enabling researchers to study emergeny medicines. Keith Willett, a consultant orthopedic trauma surgeon, will head the unit, which will house five researchers also funded by Mr Kadoorie.

The remaining £1.4m will be spent on an exchange programme between the JR and the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.

Mr Kadoorie said: "Having benefited personally, I was particularly keen to lend my support to the development of the critical care unit training and research in Oxford and also extend this knowledge to Hong Kong.

"I am delighted that we have been able to achieve both of these objectives in separate funding programmes, both of which will utilise the highest level of expertise now present at the John Radcliffe Hospital."

Mr Willett said: "Mr Kadoorie didn't understand why he, as a non-British citizen, received such high-quality care, because the UK owed him nothing. He has a very fatalistic view and believed that something should come out of the accident."