A NAILSEA GP TO BIKE FROM LONDON TO PARIS FOR HOSPITAL CHARITY IN MAKUNDUCHI

A NORTH Somerset doctor is getting on his bike again to raise money for a hospital in Zanzibar but this time he is taking the scenic route from London to Paris.

A year ago Dr Jon Rees, of Brockway Medical Centre in Nailsea, was part of a 40-strong group which took part in a bike ride around the tropical island off the coast of Tanzania, East Africa.

This time he will be attempting the ride between two European capital cities setting out on Sunday, September 11.

His first bike ride raised a staggering £80,000 for the Makunduchi Project to start a maternity service in a rural area which had little medical care for mothers in labour.

Despite its idyllic setting life expectancy on the island is just 47 years and one in 180 women die in childbirth.

The Makunduchi Project is about changing all this for the small island with a 20,000 population.

Dr Rees said: "This September, seven of us are cycling from London to Paris in three days to raise money for the project.

"This will be used both to maintain our maternity services but also to develop our paediatric service and also to start a project to try to reduce the high stroke rate on the island - mainly due to uncontrolled high blood pressure."

The other 'bikers' include charity founder Ru MacDonagh, a consultant urologist at Musgrove Park, Taunton, and other urologists based at hospitals in the south west.

The 39-year-old father hopes to pedal up to 120km daily, twice the distance of the African route.

Dr Rees said: "Thanks to the generosity of my family, friends, work colleagues and many of my patients at the practice my individual sponsorship from the first bike ride raised more than £5,000."

All the monies have been put to good use and so far we have renovated the maternity unit and other wards, started an ambulance pick-up service for pregnant women, begun dental services and much more, said Dr Rees.

More importantly when things go wrong they can now perform emergency Caesarean operations.

Dr Rees added: "The first mum-to-be to use the ambulance was so grateful and said without it she would have had to travel in labour to the hospital on the back of her husband's bike."

He intends to return to Zanzibar at the end of October to monitor progress at the hospital and discuss future projects with Zanzibar government officials.

His Excellency, the President of Zanzibar Dr Ali Mohamed Shein accompanied by health ministry dignitaries has already made an official visit to the project.

Jon is married to Seema, a GP in Portishead and the couple have three children - Krishan, two, and eight-year-old twins Kamran and Jaya.

He said: "Although there is a sense of paradise on the Indian Ocean Spice Island with its white sandy beaches and coral reef lagoon the average life expectancy is 47 years

"One in 180 women die during delivery of their child and one in six children die under the age of seven with the majority dying when aged less than two years."

Getting fit for the 220 miles ride to the Eiffel Tower has seen Dr Rees going on house calls on his bike around Nailsea and Backwell.

Dr Rees added: "I am training hard and have already done 250 miles on the bike this month by continuing to regularly commute from my Bristol home and doing home visits on my bike.

"My training regime was to cycle into work from Bristol and back is approximately a 21 mile round trip and going out on call on my bike whenever possible."

Dr Rees is a trustee of the charity with a slogan 'Money raised is not just a drop in the ocean'.

He said: "We have complete control over the fund, so there can be no corruption.

"People can see exactly where their money is going and monitor progress. People can and will make a difference.

"I am involved with this charity having worked in Zanzibar's main hospital approximately seven years ago as a surgical trainee.

"I spent some time there learning some operative procedures that we rarely carry out in this country.

"I worked at Mnazi Moja Hospital in Stonetown, the capital of the island - the hospital is completely unable to cope with the huge numbers of patients coming in from rural areas, and a terrible lack of resources.

"This project aims to help manage the less sick patients in the community and allow the main hospital to concentrate on more major illness.

"I became involved in a twinning project between this hospital and Musgrove Park where I was working at the time.

"This is a small charity and any money raised goes a very long way - I am paying all my costs so any donations will make a huge difference."

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Source: nailseapeople.co.uk