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GPs raise thousands for charity by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro

Bexley GPs Dr Surjit Kailey and his wife Dr Lakbhir Kailey have raised almost £7,000 for a local childrens’ hospice by climbing to ‘the roof of Africa’ – the 6000m summit of Mt Kilimanjaro.

Dr Surjit Kailey told Pulse that they have returned to his Welling Medical Practice feeling ‘a lot fitter and lighter’ after completing the seven-day ascent and two day descent to the 5895m summit of the Tanzanian mountain.

The Kent GPs set themselves a target of climbing Kilimanjaro and raising £4,000 for the local Demelza Hospice for Children - and ended up raising almost twice that, thank to ‘overwhelming’ support from practice staff and patients.

Dr Kailey says the ascent was a challenge and included some hair-raising steep sections, but they were helped by having trained in Snowdonia and also by taking along Diamox for altitude sickness.

Their medical skills also came in useful to assist two other would-be climbers forced to descend after being affected by altitude sickness and exhaustion from trying to ascend too quickly.

‘It was absolutely wonderful. We were literally on top of Africa and had blue skies all around. All the training paid off,’ he said.

And after reaching the top of Africa, Dr Kailey says the next step may be a trip to Everest Base Camp.