3 min readMumbaiJul 17, 2009 12:18 AM IST
First published on: Jul 17, 2009 at 12:18 AM IST
Dr TOM Middlemiss of Edinburgh cycled into Mumbai on Thursday,having travelled 1,600 km in 32 days from Thiruvananthapuram to spread awareness of his specialty,palliative care.
Palliative care is a form of treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of symptoms rather than providing a cure. It aims at prevention and relief of pain,nausea,anxiety and other sufferings and at improving the quality of life of people with a serious,complex illness. Along with medicines,palliative care involves providing emotional support to the patient,Middlemiss said. “The focus of palliative care is striving to add life to the years of the patients and not necessarily years to their life.”
From November till he set off on his Hero cycle,Middlemiss had treated terminally ill patients in Kerala. While cycling along the west coast,he dropped in at several palliative centres.
Once in Mumbai,he was received by a team of doctors of the Palliative Centre of the Tata Memorial Hospital,along with a huge crowd at the Gateway of India. Two boards fixed on his cycle read “Palliative Care Unit”.
“I had always wanted to work voluntarily in a developing country. I found that except in Kerala and some big cities,palliative care is not well known in India. So I decided to work here,” said Middlemiss,30.
“In India,more than the patient,the doctor interacts more with his or her family. That was something new to me. I was able to provide palliative care not only to the patient but also to the entire family unit. It was a good learning experience,” he said.
In Kerala,Middlemiss stayed in a village called Muttacaud,20 km from Thiruvananthapuram,and worked at Pallium India,a centre at SUT Hospital in the city. “I wanted to explore and relax in the last month of my stay in India. I would cycle 20 km to the city everyday,so I thought of cycling to Mumbai,from where I will fly back to Scotland on Monday. The cycle is a mode of transport that helps you get involved with the surroundings. I cycled three hours each day,covering 60 km,and I spent the rest of the day getting to know the place.”
Before flying back to Scotland,Middlemiss wants to gift his bicycle to a terminally ill patient. “I have been away from home for a long time. But I hope my stay in India will help palliative care grow in the country,” he said.
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