Dr. Damla Zenar: Fin...
Barbaros, Ahlat Sk. Varyap Merid...
Dr. Sanjay Dhawan Delhi
Imagining a world without vision is impossible
Just like the moon I don’t have my own light – my life is an effort to reflect what I have learnt from my great teachers, many great books, experience of my able colleagues and the knowledge imparted by my own mistakes. My life is also the expression of my gratitude to mother nature that blessed me with skills, ability and a compassionate heart to help people.
Born in a humble family, my schooling took place in New Delhi in two schools viz. Greenfields Public School & St. Xavier’s School. I pursued English literature for a while when I was waiting to join Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi – one of the premier medical schools in India. I completed my MBBS in 1987 and finished my internship in 1988. Working as Junior Resident in the Departments of Surgery, Internal Medicine and Pediatric Surgery, I discovered that I had special ability in fine surgical work. Advised by one of my professors, I joined DO (Ophthalmology) at Guru Nanak Eye Center to explore eye surgery, and observing my own surgical results I was convinced that I found my destiny. After completing DO in 1992, I went on ahead to pursue MS (Ophthalmology) at Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi. Successfully breaking two exams at the same time was a feat of sorts. My masters was a period of a lot of learning, honing my surgical skill, conducting research on effects of contact lenses on the eye and also teaching the undergraduates and my junior colleagues, and strangely sometimes even my seniors. The hard work was bore fruit and I was awarded Delhi University Gold Medal by the Former President of India Shri K R Narayanan, for being the best candidate in MS (Ophthalmology) for the year 1995. I continued working in the same department as Senior Resident for another 3 years independently handling all the clinical & surgical work.
In 1998 I had a great fortune of being appointed as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Nepal and associated Himalaya Eye Hospital, a project of FECH of The Netherlands. It was an enriching experience professionally & spiritually. I learnt some new surgical techniques in cataract surgery, glaucoma surgery, cornea transplant, squint and oculoplasty surgery. I also perfected and modified some old techniques. Teaching undergraduates became a passion.
Year 2000 I joined Lions Hospital & Research Center, New Delhi where had the opportunity to serve community to the best of my ability. I revolutionized the concept of community service by providing high quality eye surgery at low cost to the masses. I was amongst the first to popularize the technique of SICS for mass application in New Delhi, and I was probably the first to introduce a modified Topical Anesthesia to perform SICS. The large scale surgical experience helped me refine the surgeries of Phacoemulsification, MICS (Phakonit), Lasik, Supra-Whitnall’s Resection of LPS for Ptosis, etc. Encouraged by my surgical results and the need for delivering highly specialized care to the patients, I directed my focus & efforts to Cataract & Refractive Surgery. In 2001 I also joined Max Healthcare and divided my time between hospitals – a time of catering to two diverse segments of society and learning the art of meeting the needs of both.
In 2004 Bausch & Lomb India introduced me to an association with a business house to setup and run a state of the art eye hospital – Perfect Vision Eye Hospital at Faridabad. Introduction of high quality eye surgery and high service made this project hugely successful. As the medical director of the hospital I guided a group practice approach and a no-compromise policy on quality care.
At Max Healthcare I continued to deliver world class healthcare in ophthalmology – a philosophy embodied by Max, and also convinced the company to setup a world class eye care facility – Max Eye Care. As part of my commitment to this venture, I withdrew my clinical practice from everywhere to join Max Healthcare full time as Head of Department, Max Healthcare at Max Eye Care, Panchsheel Park, Saket & Gurgaon.
My endeavors and the support of the management of MaxHealthcare,helped put togethera very proficient and able teamof eye surgeons, and a facility which the best equipped eye department in any multi-specialty private hospital in New Delhi and NCR. The department provides a very comprehensive eye care encompassing all the aspects of ophthalmology to the patients from India and abroad.
I am a member of important national and international professional organizations for ophthalmology including Delhi Ophthalmological Society, All India Ophthalmological Society, American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, etc. I am also an expert & advisor in ophthalmology to many media houses & publications.
