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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Healing Beyond the Clinic

Dr Kirti Samudra “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” This thought by Mother Teresa finds reflection in the life of Panvel-based diabetologist Dr Kirti Samudra, who has spent decades caring not only for her family but also thousands of patients who see her as their guide. As we mark International Women’s Day, stories like hers remind us that women of substance often shape society quietly through compassion, resilience and dedication. Doctor, mother, homemaker,...

Healing Beyond the Clinic

Dr Kirti Samudra “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” This thought by Mother Teresa finds reflection in the life of Panvel-based diabetologist Dr Kirti Samudra, who has spent decades caring not only for her family but also thousands of patients who see her as their guide. As we mark International Women’s Day, stories like hers remind us that women of substance often shape society quietly through compassion, resilience and dedication. Doctor, mother, homemaker, mentor and philanthropist — Dr Samudra has balanced many roles with commitment. While she manages a busy medical practice, her deeper calling has always been service. For her, medicine is not merely a profession but a responsibility towards the people who depend on her guidance. Nagpur to Panvel Born and raised in Nagpur, Dr Samudra completed her medical education there before moving to Mumbai in search of better opportunities. The early years were challenging. With determination, she and her husband Girish Samudra, an entrepreneur involved in underwater pipeline projects, chose to build their life in Panvel. At a time when the town was still developing and healthcare awareness was limited, she decided to make it both her workplace and home. What began with modest resources gradually grew into a trusted medical practice built on long-standing relationships with patients. Fighting Diabetes Recognising the growing threat of diabetes, Dr Samudra dedicated her career to treating and educating patients about the disease. Over the years, she has registered nearly 30,000 patients from Panvel and nearby areas. Yet she believes treatment alone is not enough. “Diabetes is a lifelong disease. Medicines are important, but patient education is equally critical. If people understand the condition, they can manage it better and prevent complications,” she says. For more than 27 years, she has organised an Annual Patients’ Education Programme, offering diagnostic tests at concessional rates and sessions on lifestyle management. Family, Practice With her husband frequently travelling for business, much of the responsibility of raising their two children fell on Dr Samudra. Instead of expanding her practice aggressively, she kept it close to home and adjusted her OPD timings around her children’s schedules. “It was not easy,” she recalls, “but I wanted to fulfil my responsibilities as a mother while continuing to serve my patients.” Beyond Medicine Today, Dr Samudra also devotes time to social initiatives through the Bharat Vikas Parishad, where she serves as Regional Head. Her projects include  Plastic Mukta Vasundhara , which promotes reduced use of single-use plastic, and  Sainik Ho Tumchyasathi , an initiative that sends Diwali  faral  (snack hamper) to Indian soldiers posted at the borders. Last year alone, 15,000 boxes were sent to troops. Despite decades of service, she measures success not in wealth but in goodwill. “I may not have earned huge money,” she says, “but I have earned immense love and respect from my patients. That is something I will always be grateful for.”

Negotiating with Shadows

Twenty-one months into the Gaza conflict, a new round of ceasefire talks comes laden with conditions while being light on certainty.

After nearly two years of devastating conflict, a tentative sliver of diplomacy has once again emerged from the wreckage of Gaza. Israel will dispatch a delegation to Doha for indirect ‘proximity talks’ with Hamas which are to be mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States on a proposed 60 day ceasefire coupled with hostage releases.


Since Hamas’ murderous attacks on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and seized 251 hostages, Israel has responded with unprecedented ferocity. Gaza’s health ministry has reported over 57,000 Palestinians killed. Gaza lies in ruins and millions remain displaced.


The latest Doha proposal offers familiar terms: phased Israeli troop withdrawals, staggered prisoner exchanges, humanitarian aid and negotiations aimed at a longer peace. Hamas called its response “positive” but inserted caveats, chief among them - a demand that fighting must not resume if long-term talks collapse, and that all aid be distributed by the UN, not Israeli-backed organisations. Israel has rejected these demands as “unacceptable” but has nevertheless agreed to participate.


The scale of destruction and Israel’s objectives have been unprecedented since the October 2023 attacks. Unlike past operations – like those in 2009, 2014 or even the 1982 Lebanon incursion - Israel has sought not to deter or degrade, but to erase Hamas’s rule in Gaza.


Entire neighbourhoods have been obliterated with hospitals, tunnels and mosques (which have been used by Hamas operatives) have become battlegrounds. And for the first time, Israel has killed not just all of Hamas’s senior command structure but eliminated the leadership of Iran’s proxy Hezbollah and struck nuclear facilities in Tehran itself.


Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s elusive military chief, was killed in a July 2024 airstrike while Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attacks, was killed in Rafah in October last year. His brother and successor, Mohammed Sinwar, was eliminated in May this year. With them, much of Hamas’s leadership and operational core has been destroyed.


This represents a profound shift. For decades, Israel fought asymmetrical battles against non-state actors - Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad - while Tehran pulled strings in the background. Now, the IDF has struck not just the proxies, but the puppeteer.


The Arab response has been notably restrained. While publics across the region have protested Israeli actions, Arab states, particularly those in the Abraham Accords bloc, have maintained diplomatic channels and security ties. Even Saudi Arabia, which paused normalisation talks in the early months of war, has since quietly re-engaged. Egypt and Jordan, long regional pillars, have focused less on Palestinian politics and more on border stability. Palestinian fragmentation has created a diplomatic void that Israel has exploited.


President Donald Trump now seeks to position himself as the architect of a “big beautiful” Middle East deal. His administration has backed Israel militarily while cajoling Arab states and hosting proximity talks. A meeting with Netanyahu looms, and Trump, always alert to optics, would like to announce a breakthrough.


And yet, power alone does not write endings.


Inside Gaza, Hamas is gone, but no credible post-war plan has emerged. The Palestinian Authority is too weak. Arab peacekeepers are reluctant. A full Israeli re-occupation is politically suicidal. International trusteeship has been floated. But the question is by whom, with what mandate?


Still, this war may mark a break from the past. Unlike the PLO in the 1980s or Hezbollah in 2006, Hamas is no longer capable of returning as a political force in its former stronghold. Iran’s deterrence has been punctured. Hezbollah has been pushed back. Hamas has been buried beneath the rubble of Gaza. Israel, for the moment, holds the strategic high ground.


But victory brings its own burdens. With no enemy left to fight, Israel must now answer a harder question: what comes next? Flattening Gaza may have ended Hamas’s rule, but unless something better rises from the ruins, the silence that follows may be just another uneasy pause.

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