THE chance to work with revolutionary 'magic eye' scanner equipment helped attract consultant surgeon Vishal Kaushik to East Lancashire.

He brought his wife and son from Lancaster to the area so he could work with the state-of-the-art scanner in Blackburn.

And today the India-born surgeon, who started work at the hospital last month, aims to see Lancashire "in lights" as a centre of cancer excellence.

Dr Kaushik is already trained to use the equipment which will be bought for East Lancashire thanks to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph £200,000 Magic Eye Appeal.

There are only a handful of these machines - which can see through the walls of arteries and organs - in the whole of the country.

The consultant gastroenterologist said he "can't wait" to get his hands on the endoscopic ultrasound scanner.

"It is like having a new toy. The EUS is one of the areas I have been interested in before so it was one of the main reasons I decided to take up this position in Blackburn," said Dr Kaushik, 36.

"It is all about being able to provide the best service for cancer patients as well as being a centre of excellence."

Dr Kaushik has been specially trained on the EUS in America and Amsterdam, as well as in hospitals in this country, and regularly keeps up to date with the latest technological advances through journals.