UK to gift Big B a mobile diabetes clinic for Mumbai on birthday

Amitabh Bachchan clearly shares a special relationship with the UK. He was honoured by being asked to be one of the torch bearers of the London 2012 Olympic flame, and now he is going to receive a 70th birthday gift from the British Deputy High Commissioner Mumbai on behalf of the British people. And it is not a gift to be sneezed at. Peter Beckingham will present the Bollywood legend with a mobile diabetes testing unit for the city of Mumbai, courtesy the silver star charity. [caption id=“attachment_487467” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] A press statement from the UK embassy said, “The gift will mean the city of Mumbai will have a mobile diabetes unit alongside those in London and Leicester in the UK and Goa in India.” The mobile clinic will be named ‘Amitabh’ in honour of Mr Bachchan, who is the charity’s international patron and has been instrumental in raising diabetes awareness in India. Over the last 5 years Silver Star units have tested over 30,000 people in schools, communities, businesses and villages in the UK and India, which have literally saved lives and limbs. The ceremony will be held at the SevenHills Hospital in Mumbai, who will fund and manage the operations of the unit which will offer free diabetes testing to the city’s most disadvantaged. Among those attending are delegations from all around the world, including the United Kingdom, led by Britain’s most senior Asian MP Keith Vaz. The hospital will be represented by Dr Jitendra Das Maganti, Chairman, and Dr Bhujang Pai, a world class radiologist. The release quoted Beckingham as saying, ““I was delighted to hear of Silver Star’s plans to give a mobile diabetes unit to a hospital here to mark their close links to India. Like many countries it still suffers from a lack of awareness of the causes of, and treatment for, Type 2 diabetes, and Silver Star’s gift, to coincide with the birthday of one of India’s most celebrated actors, Amitabh Bachchan, should help in the campaign to counter the effects of this too common condition.”