Manipal: Dr Unni bikes across country to create awareness on health

PRESS RELEASE

 

Manipal, Dec 21 2013-

Dr Unni Karunakara who graduated from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal 25 years ago is on a bicycle expedition from Kashmir to Thiruvananthapuram. He arrived in Manipal on Friday for the Annual Alumni meet and will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the function today. He started out on October 12, 2013 and hopes to complete the distance of 5000 kilometers on February 1, 2014. 

“I love to cycle. As a medical intern at Kasturba Hospital in 1988, I biked from Delhi to Leh and Srinagar to Delhi. I dreamt, one day, to ride the length of India. Twenty-five years later, I am fulfilling this dream and combining it with my other passion, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). He will pass through 10 states, make 65 stops, speak at 10 medical colleges, have film screenings and ride with cycle groups and co-riders Canadian Olympian Helen Upperton will accompany him in Bangalore.

After graduating from Manipal, Dr Unni went to United States to study public health and then worked in international health for 18 years. During the last three of those years, he held the position of International President of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres(MSF) received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 1996 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. “I congratulate you on the noble mission you have undertaken of rendering medical humanitarian aid,” says Dr Ramdas Pai, President and Chancellor, Manipal University.

Relating his experiences so far in his journey to the media persons on Saturday, he said he was surprised to see that health care delivery had still a long way to go.  Enroute, he stops to speak at medical colleges, to meet students and engage in dialogues about health, healthcare, and humanitarian action. That is how he has picked up a lot of information about the country healthcare system. “Despite being among the best countries producing generic medicines, we still do not provide health care the way it should be done,” he said.

“I have been working in international health for almost two decades from treating patients, advocating for lifesaving medicines, developing effective ‘models of care’, and fighting to improve access to healthcare,” says Dr Karunakara.

 “I feel a great sense of nostalgia to be returning to KMC, where I spent some of the formative years of my life; where I made many lasting friendships; and where I received an education that inspired me to pursue medical humanitarian work.  I hope by sharing my experiences working in places like the Congo, South Sudan, and Ethiopia and hearing from medical students that dialogues can turn into action”.

During Dr Karunakara’s presidency, MSF confronted many challenges to delivering healthcare in conflict zones, natural disasters, and to populations with inadequate access to healthcare in over 70 countries around the world. In 2012 alone, MSF medical teams worldwide provided over eight million outpatient consultations, helped deliver around 185,000 babies, conducted nearly 80,000 surgical procedures, and vaccinated almost 700,000 people against measles.

MSF is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare in around 70 countries, including eight projects in seven states (Bihar, Manipur, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland) in India. MSF offers assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.