This article was contributed by Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation

A Hobart pain management doctor, who once cared for patients in some of the world’s most remote regions, is now using his creativity to give back to the community he has called home for 30 years.

Dr Gajinder Oberoi, who led the development of specialist pain services at the Royal Hobart Hospital, is now donating proceeds from his artworks and a book, Stories that Remain Untold, to the Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation to support local patient care and medical research.

“I have been helping people around the world manage their pain for the past four decades, of which almost 30 years in Tasmania, and I want to keep giving back to my community that has given me so much,” Dr Oberoi said.

Born and raised in India, Dr Oberoi relocated to Papua New Guinea in the late 1980s where he established the first pain services and trained its first pain specialists. Seven years later he moved to Tasmania where he created the state’s first accredited training program in pain medicine and trained generations of doctors.

But it’s Hobart itself, he says, that enabled his latest chapter. “Living here gave me something rare – time,” he said. “In bigger cities, commuting takes hours. But in Hobart, everything is close. That gave me the space to think, connect deeply with patients, and eventually create.

“Meeting so many patients, their carers and families and getting their respect and appreciation about my clinical sketches, which were drawn to describe their symptoms, gave me immense encouragement and strength to pursue my expressive pursuits in art and writing.”