The ability to help others, relieve pain, and alleviate misery is the most gratifying aspect of being a doctor. For Dr Pawan Kumar, this sense of purpose shaped his decision to become a clinician.
“As a practicing clinician, I still remember very little was left of my personal life. Even though I was physically at home, my mind was always at the hospital,” recalls Dr Pawan Kumar, who pursued MBBS from JIPMER, Pondicherry, MD from PGIMER, Chandigarh and eventually went on to pursue PGP from ISB.
For doctors in active practice, this is often the norm—the necessity to be constantly accessible and ready to respond in the hour of need significantly encroaches upon personal space and family time.
The reward
Despite these challenges, the reward of seeing a patient recover, walk again, or feel better makes all the sacrifices worthwhile. “That one life saved, one life healed, takes away all this discomfort any day and is so fulfilling. If I had to choose all over again, I can’t think of anything else but being a doctor,” Dr Pawan affirms.
A big shift
However, after completing MD in Anesthesiology in 2010 and spending some time as a clinician, a shift occurred. Dr Pawan transitioned from direct patient care to the management side of healthcare. This shift, however, did not signify an end to his mission of caring for patients; rather, it was an expansion of his ability to impact healthcare on a larger scale.
“After my MD and practising as a clinician for some time, I shifted to the management side of healthcare. But I never stopped doing what I was supposed to do as a clinician. Only a small shift was in place; instead of caring directly, I moved to enabling care at a greater scale,” Dr Pawan explains, who pursued the Post Graduate Programme in Management from ISB in 2013.
As the CEO of Livasa Hospitals (formerly Ivy Hospitals), Dr Pawan feels better positioned to achieve his initial goal as a clinician, but with a grander scale and depth.
Making a grand impact
With 15 years of extensive expertise in clinical medicine, operations, strategy, and leadership, he embarked on his management career at Max Healthcare, serving as GM Operations, with a specific focus on establishing new hospitals and revitalising existing ones. His impactful role as COO at Cloudnine Hospitals contributed to the exponential growth of the brand in women and childcare, successfully establishing 11 hospitals across NCR and Punjab in North India.
“I am now involved in building care delivery models to ensure patients receive better, safer, and quicker treatments. My work extends beyond tier-one cities, bringing quality medical care closer to people in tier-two and tier-three cities. This expansion includes growing new medical specialties and making quality healthcare more accessible to larger populations,” he explains.
Dr Pawan’s journey underscores the profound impact that dedicated healthcare professionals can have, not just on individual lives, but on entire communities.