The note says the dispensary will be closed from Aug 24 to Sept 6. Mumbai: An innocuous note pasted on the front door of Dr Milind Chitley’s ground-floor clinic in Andheri East alerts patients to his absence for a fortnight. This was the duration for which the doctor had embarked on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra .
He won the prestigious Girimitra Award in 2005 and founded an adventure sports firm named Hills and Trails. Chitley has been the climbing doctor for the first Indian civilian expedition to any mountain above 8,000 m. He conquered over 23,000 ft of Mt Kanchenjunga.
Dr Chitley, a medical doctor, is an avid mountaineer and professional cyclist. Just one youth recalled seeing a report in a newspaper which mentioned Chitley’s name. An adjacent shopgirl selling imitation jewellery was shocked to learn that he was missing in Nepal. As word spread, patients and local residents assembled to recall the affable doctor who was always helpful to the community. One woman remarked how he treated her son. Others recalled him in bicycle gear wearing a helmet and riding with his group.
On Thursday, when TOI visited his ground-floor clinic in Malpa Dongri, local patients and neighbours were largely unaware of the mishap.