Here is a copy of the letter I sent to both BA and BAA, regarding the treatment of my father. Clearly, you will note that has been no adherence to protocol. If a person has become sick on-board, then common-sense suggests that it is the duty of cabin crew and ground staff to do everything in their power to help and save a life.

At the time of going to print on my blog, he is still in an Intensive Care Unit in hospital and we hope he will recover.
I still await a reply from the organisations involved in this apparent shambles.

Ref: Passenger Mr P S Arora Medical Alert
21st January 2011

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is now 4 weeks since my father arrived back from holidaying in India. His e-Ticket number was: xxxxxxxxxx and reservation number was: xxxxxxxxxxxxx (BA0256)

Since his arrival on Christmas Eve 24th December 2010 he has been in ITU – The Intensive Treatment Unit. The reason for writing to you is to outline what happened on the flight and subsequent disembarking. This is what happened:

• The flight arrived at 5pm and at 5:10pm a member of the BA Cabin Crew, a Mr Singh called my home and spoke to me about collecting my father from the arrival gate at terminal 5.As we live close to Terminal 5 we arrived at approx 5:40pm
• My daughter and I ran between the ground and 3rd floor to find the BAA passenger assistance desk and I left my son standing at arrivals to wait for my father there.
• By coincidence we met 3 of the BA cabin crew near one of the lifts and one of them spoke to us as noticed we were asking people the location of the BAA passenger assistance desk.
• The BA crew member said he had called me and that my father had been on Oxygen for the past 6 hours. He further said that he was behind arrivals.
• When we did eventually find a BAA person, after 50 minutes they placed a Public address call out to the wheelchair attendant to find my father.
• All in all it took an hour to locate my father.
• His condition worsened when we managed to get him brought out by BAA from the baggage area behind arrivals. He had apparently been left there and ignored?!
• Mr Depak, the BAA duty manager assembled some of his staff and organised some portable curtains as my father was in deep medical distress, slumped forward in the wheelchair, with his eyes rolled up and hands and feet frozen.
• We stressed to BAA that they call an ambulance immediately. NB this should have happened far earlier – BAA claim no request was made by the cabin crew. Surprising as my father was on Oxygen for 6 hours.
• Within 10minutes, the time now being past 6pm an ambulance arrived and my father was rushed to hospital.
• Upon arrival to hospital we were told by 2 Doctors that my father could die and that one lung had stopped functioning. He has
  been on a ventilator ever since suffering from severe Pneumonia.

We are hoping he will recover.

Why did the BA cabin crew not contact the medics on the ground? Why was the BAA wheelchair attendant contractor not proactive- My father was best described as in a comatose position. BAA claim (the main person that organises the medics to be called out) that no call was received from the plane/cabin crew for medical assistance. Is this not against the protocol of both organisations and BA training, especially as a passenger was on Oxygen for 6 hours and clearly in medical distress?

What will you be doing to investigate this matter, fully audit responsibilities and ensure that this never happens again? Will you please find out about the facts as a persons life has been compromised by what appears as a collective lack of communication or responsibility.

It is likely that my fathers condition was also comprised further by lack of Oxygen for a further 1 hour causing a complete white-out of his right lung. I would appreciate a call to discuss this ASAP.

I hope that my father recovers.

Dr Savi S Arora

Lets hope somebody writes back to me soon. Or, do I have a legal case here?

Back in Dec’09 it was 25 years since the Union Carbide plant accident took place.

In December 1984 India saw the beginning of the worst industrial disaster in history. It has come to be known as the Hiroshima of the chemical industry. 40 tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate gas, used in the manufacture of the pesticide Sevin, spewed from the plant into the surrounding areas.

8-10,000 people died within the first 72 hours and another 15,000 people have died as a result of their exposure to the gas. Another 120,000 have chronic medical conditions that require constant healthcare.
The death toll stands at 25,000+

The following footage from the You Tube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/BhopalMedicalAppeal is unbelievably graphic in terms of showing:

1. Still no clean-up?!
2. The extent of damage is vast and water is still contaminated, getting into the food chain.
3. The fact that people can still walk about and enter the plant complex

Please see the videos below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Indra Sinha, who was Booker-nominated for his book on the Bhopal disaster, explains in the following article why the gas leak that killed 20,000 people 25 years ago – and continues to create health problems for countless more. The pictures in the article are also haunting.

In addition, the following video, you can see the need for more health resources and the appalling fact that you can see the contaminated soil that is still present.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The sad news is that people are still suffering.

What is so so sad is the fact that as we enter the 26th year of the tragedy, those who have the power to help appear to be not!?  Maybe public pressure can help. I certainly missed this news item. Does this mean that what we do not see can not move us? Do we forget because the public eye facilitated by the media is blind?

Or, on a positive note now that we know that people are still suffering, we can reach out and help.

Recently, over a thousand party revellers turned out to a party in an abandoned building in London, all on the whim of a Facebook invitation. It is a pity that we do not exercise our disgust and demand for justice using such tools!

The Bhopal Medical Appeal funds the Sambhavna Clinic. Sambhavna is the only place that offers free treatment to anybody affected by the toxic gas or the toxic water.  This Medical Appeal offers free health care and hope to the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak disaster and those suffering from the present day water poisoning.  Find out more at: http://www.bhopal.org

It was suggested that,

‘Barack Obama stands out like a welcome beacon of zen. This week in an overheard aside to David Cameron he confided that “the most important thing you need to do is have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking”. Without that, he said, “you lose the big picture”.

and

In his essay Is Google Making us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr observes that he now seems less able to engage himself deeply in long, complicated narratives or arguments. “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski,” he says. It’s so obviously true. Anyone who doubts that our attention spans are dwindling is seriously…oh, who cares? I sometimes find myself talking to two-year-olds and having to stop myself saying: “Yes, yes, but what’s your point?”

The general gist of the article is the suggestion that the world has become to fast.
I too suffer from the syndrome as I often declare to my staff, ‘hurry-up. What is taking so long!?’
Therefore, I’m not setting a good example.

What I found helped and again ironically I do not make time for it is Yoga.
On what I like to call my Spanish episode (August 2006) I had lost patience. I also blame the fact that it was also a very hot day that day.

Anyway, upon returning to London I attended a couple of Kundalini Yoga sessions. I found that it was almost as if someone had pressed my ‘reset’ button.

The Times article is interesting in that it exposes what we suffer from. However, does it suggests few solutions.
Here are some that I have managed to research. I call it strategies for focus…

1. Dedicate time to think
2. Establish set times to perform particular activities
3. Consider Yoga
4. If you do a lot of report writing, then try a creative writing exercise – It helps to become more creative
5. Before you sleep think of 3 good things that happened or made you happy
6. Don’t use a computer/laptop or watch TV for up to 2-3 hours before retiring to bed (easier said than done!)

The latter tip I picked up from Snatam Kaur’s blog site.

The article is definitely worth a read to help us realise that to obtain quality of life, we all have to try harder.

Much loved actor and current King of the Jungle Christopher Biggins took time out of his busy schedule to meet fundraisers, including 96 year old Fauja Singh, after they completed the annual Birmingham to London bike ride in aid of CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA.

The presentation took place on Sunday 27 January at the Wyke Green Golf Club, Isleworth, where the star was presented with a cheque for £25,368.44 from SACA, the organisers behind the event.

SACA also took the opportunity to announce that, further to the success of last year’s event, they have nominated CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA to be the beneficiary of the event for a second year running.  Deputy CEO of CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA Peter Reynolds said “We are honoured to be the nominated charity for a second year. It is a privilege to be associated with SACA again and we look forward to another successful event”.

Over 250 cyclists covered over 130 miles in July last year, enduring unseasonably adverse weather conditions throughout. Fauja Singh (aged 96), who currently holds eight different UK, European and world running records in the men over 90 age category, ran in a relay, with a team of ten other runners, along the same route as the cyclists, to show their support for the riders

Biggins beat eleven celebrities to be crowned King of the Jungle in November last year, on ITV’s Primetime show ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’. Talking from the event he said “Well the bush tucker trials really pale into insignificance compared to the lengths these wonderful supporters have gone to in order to raise vital funds for a wonderful cause.  The money raised will be used to fight the UK’s most common childhood cancer and is much needed, so all I can say is a huge thank you”.

Esther Lay, from SACA said “We’re delighting to able to donate £25,000 to such a worthy cause.  I would like to thank each and every rider, whose dedication and support has resulted in a fantastic contribution to CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA and look forward to working with them again in 2008”.

The Annual Birmingham to London Charity Bike Ride is one of the most challenging rides organized in the UK.  The event has been held each year since 1989, when a group of 14 aspiring youths decided to establish a challenge that could help both local and national children’s charities. They considered a number of sporting events that would test both their determination and personal fitness. They also considered the key element of working as a team and supporting each other.

Each year SACA choose a children’s charity to benefit from the event.  CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA is the sole beneficiary of the 2007 event.  To date the ride has raised over £135,000 for children’s charities.

CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA is Britain’s leading national charity dedicated exclusively to the conquest of childhood leukaemia through pioneering research, new treatment and support of leukaemic children and their families.

What was surprising was that not only have a noticed an increase in this type of shop but I was also astounded by the seated queue inside the shop.

The expression, ‘BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP’ came to mind The proverb has been traced back to ‘A Wife’ (c.1613) by Thomas Overbury (1581-1613).” From the “Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings” by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).- “What you don’t see is hidden under the skin and it may be more important than physical beauty.

Another related expression is, BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER – This proverb appear to have come from the English dramatist John Lyly, who wrote in ‘Euphues in England’ (1580).

We may spend time on our physical being but how much do we dedicate to our inner beauty or spiritual existence?

Interestingly, after researching this area I discovered that some Health coaches suggest that fitness training alone is not enough, people need to also de-stress. I’m not suggesting that becoming spiritual is just another tick box. One fitness piece of advice suggested that everyone has 4 basic health needs:  Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual.

Emotional development is an interesting area, especially in the context of respecting each other and ensuring that we do not degrade others. Bad mouthing never helped anyone.
Statistics have shown that people who have strong religious beliefs and convictions are less likely to have health problems in the other 3 facets of their health.  In addition, it has been suggested that commitment to prayer is helpful and can fight off potential illness and depression.

As I said before, becoming spiritual should not be seen as an add-on or a simple health supplement. We cannot and should not perform any tests on our religious beliefs – It does not work like that. I remember a few years ago a BBC documentary divided a group of patients and families up into two groups. One group prayed for the wellbeing of their patients and the other did not. You cannot test God !

Commitment to prayer and meditation has the potential to make us a better physical person but also remembering God. Our existence in this world is really only temporary, therefore we should aim to be fair to each other.
Hey! We leave it all behind anyway, only our soul is what we need to value and enrich.

The aim should be to merge with God through the guidelines given to us.

The surgery scheduled was described as a �day surgery�, meaning that either an am or pm session would be booked and performed. My set time was am.
I arrived prompt at 7.30am. After 10minutes I was guided past a row of empty beds and asked to change into the provided reverse tie-up garment. At this stage my nerves were going. The last time I had undergone a general anesthetic was when at the age of 6. Somehow I had got Sulphur poisoning � a story for another time! I guess it was the very thought of being injected, put to sleep and then having surgery performed.
The nursing staff, anaesthetists and doctors were outstanding. They all came to see me to explain the process and put my senses at ease.

When it was all was over I was released at 2.40pm the same day. The impact did require some time to help me recover but I could not help thinking of the power of giving.

Interesting, on Sunday 25^th February, I watched glimpses of the Heaven and Earth TV show, on BBC 1. They featured Lent � This is a Christian practice – traditionally forty days (The forty day period is symbolic of the forty days spent by Jesus in the wilderness and possibly the forty hours he spent entombed) in Lent are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance (the desire to be forgiven). Instead of holding back an activity, it was suggested on the programme that to �give� is another way of performing Lent.

Sikhs do not partake in fasts or rituals. I did feel that the power of giving or self-less service is something that is both deep and important. One of the core beliefs of Sikhism is to engage in selfless service (Sewa) and help build a loving community life; to be a contributor to society whenever possible; (Wand kay shakna)

Everyday the NHS staff perform a service. Since 1997, the UK Government has offered to treble funding by 2008. Today there are now 32,000 more doctors and 85,000 more nurses, and overall there are over 300,000 more staff working in the NHS. They have to face a wide range of challenges � still monetary and emotional. As a patient you hope for the best and they try their best to give it to you.

I wondered what a great place the world would be if we all tried to give rather than take.
The NHS is a great institution that is under a national strain but we should be proud of it and aim to defend its presence.
It is only when we take that we release how much others give from within everyday. A more voluntary, supportive perspective may be a good way for us to give.

A couple of parallel thoughts this week.

1. A couple of week’s back I attended the annual charity evening for those that have completed the annual Birmingham to London Cycle ride, held every July and organised by the Sikh Arts and Cultural Association. This year �15,000 was raised for Whizz Kids, a national charity that helps disabled children.

2. With this week being reduce wastage week. I also thought about how important it is to respect our environment – For example, often school runs and short trips are performed by car. Although one could argue that the road network makes it increasingly difficult to walk, run or cycle, the path to change has to come from us alone.

Apart from the environmental benefits, there is an enormous health benefit too. Getting on your bike regularly not only gets you where you want to go faster than a car, it is good for your heart and health.

Cycling everyday is an effective and enjoyable form of aerobic exercise. This is the type of exercise that is most effective at promoting good health. For example, cycling reduces the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and the most common form of diabetes.

One rough calculation suggests that new cyclists covering short distances can reduce their risk of death (mainly due to the reduction of heart disease) by as much as 22 per cent. Cycling can be part of a programme to lose weight because it burns the energy supplied by a chocolate bar in an hour (about 300 calories). A 15-minute bike ride to and from work five times a week burns off the equivalent of 11 pounds of fat in a year. That kind of cycling pattern also meets the Government’s latest target on exercise: that we should take part in some mild to moderate physical activity … five times a week*.

Cycling can have positive effects on how we feel too. Moderate exercise has been found to reduce levels of depression and stress, improve mood and raise self-esteem, and has also been found to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.

*NB Always consult your Doctor, before you start any form of exercise regime, especially if you are not performed any exercise or physical activity for a while.

How cycling improves fitness
A study carried out for the Department of Transport found that ‘even a small amount of cycling can lead to significant gains in fitness’. The study found that aerobic fitness was boosted by 11 per cent after just six weeks of cycling ‘short distances’ four times a week. According to the study people who do not exercise who start cycling move from the third of the population who are the least fit, to the fittest half of the population in just a few months.

Who can cycle?
There are no real age barriers to cycling, and people of most fitness levels can cycle, slowly and gently if necessary. Anyone with heart disease or other conditions affecting their activity should, of course, consult their doctor before starting any exercise programme. Those of all body shapes and all but the most extreme body weights can ride a bike.

Getting Started
Most cyclists are ‘utility’ cyclists where the bike is a way of getting from A to B, and getting some exercise is an added bonus. Nearly three-quarters of journeys people make are of five miles or less, and these could be achievedby most people.

Further information.

There are some great resources to read-up on cycling:

Cycle Touring Club www.ctc.org.uk
London Cycling Campaign www.lcc.org.uk

Now is also the right time to start thinking about the annual Birmingham to London cycle ride organised by the Sikh Art and Cultural Association. Run over 2 days during the 3rd weekend of July, you can work towards completing your centennial mile on the first day and finish the final 40 on the second. Every year over 240 riders take part and The Sikh Times also wonderfully sponsor the event too. Visit: www.charitybikeride.com