top of page

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.”

Sham Democracy

Myanmar’s junta prepares for an election that is likely to be rigged amid civil war and authoritarian consolidation.

The generals in Naypyidaw are attempting a sleight of hand. Recently, Myanmar’s junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, theatrically declared the end of the emergency rule imposed since the February 2021 coup and signalled a December election. This, he proclaimed, marks “the second chapter” in the country’s journey. But it is a chapter written by the same authors who torched the last manuscript of democracy, and it is likely to end with the military even more entrenched than before.


The announcement is part of a larger ruse to rebrand the military’s de facto rule in civilian garb. Since the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, Myanmar has descended into a violent and fragmented civil war. The junta has lost vast swathes of territory to ethnic militias and a burgeoning resistance, yet it clings to the illusion of control through electoral theatre.


Min Aung Hlaing now occupies both the positions of armed forces chief and acting president. The December election, touted by junta mouthpieces as a transition to multi-party democracy, is more likely to be a rubber-stamp exercise.


Indeed, the prerequisites for a legitimate vote in form of press freedom, universal suffrage and civil liberties are conspicuously absent. In their place, the junta has crafted an atmosphere of fear: new draconian laws threaten up to ten years’ imprisonment for anyone attempting to “destroy a part of the electoral process.” Yet even the preparatory census failed to reach 19 million of the country’s 51 million people, underscoring the logistical farce.


The opposition, including lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD), has pledged to boycott it. Suu Kyi remains imprisoned, along with much of the NLD’s senior leadership, having been handed a slew of convictions designed to eliminate her from public life. The political landscape has been sterilised of any real challenge to military rule.


The junta’s endgame is not the restoration of democracy but its reinvention under military tutelage.


For much of its post-independence history, the country has been under military rule, whether directly or cloaked in constitutional manipulation. The 2008 constitution, drafted by the generals, guarantees the army a quarter of parliamentary seats and control over key ministries. The 2021 coup was sparked by the military’s unfounded allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election, which the NLD won in a landslide.


The upcoming vote may seek to reanimate the model of the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) ruling under a quasi-civilian façade. The difference now is that the resistance is fiercer and more decentralised. Ethnic armed organisations (EAOs), along with the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), have significantly eroded the junta’s reach in the north, west, and southeast. Any move to impose elections in these territories risks further inflaming hostilities. Already, the junta has resorted to offering cash rewards to rebels willing to surrender.


International response has ranged from cautious to complicit. China, Myanmar’s powerful neighbour and biggest investor, issued a bland statement supporting “resolution through political means under the constitutional and legal framework” — code for tolerating the junta’s roadmap so long as it protects Chinese investments and prevents Western influence. Beijing’s interest lies not in Myanmar’s democratic flourishing but in a stable buffer zone and access to the Indian Ocean.


ASEAN, the regional bloc, has offered a five-point peace plan that has largely been ignored. Western sanctions have failed to dislodge the generals or materially degrade their capacity to wage war. Meanwhile, arms continue to flow through networks in Russia, China, and North Korea. The civil war is increasingly internationalised, even as its victims remain largely voiceless on the world stage.


To many in Myanmar, especially the youth who took to the streets in 2021 and have since joined the armed resistance, the electoral pantomime represents a betrayal. It is designed not to heal the country but to ensconce a junta incapable of governing by consent. Elections can lend legitimacy when institutions are strong and freedoms respected. In Myanmar, they have been used to crush what remains of both.

Comments

bottom of page