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.”

The Druze Divide

The collapse of Assad’s regime has thrown Syria’s delicate ethnic balance into turmoil, with the Druze once again caught in the crossfire.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad last year ended more than half a century of Alawite dominance in Syria. Yet peace has since proved elusive. In recent weeks, the southern province of Sweida has been engulfed in some of the worst communal violence since the Islamic-led government took power. At least 37 people have been killed in clashes between the Druze - members of a small, secretive religious minority - and Sunni Bedouin tribes following a spate of tit-for-tat kidnappings and armed ambushes. Over 100 have been injured. As the new authorities scramble to restore order, the events in Sweida reveal just how fragile post-Assad Syria remains, and how the fate of minorities like the Druze may shape its future.

 

The Druze are no strangers to political turbulence. Emerging in the 11th century as an offshoot of Ismaili Shiism, they have long maintained a tight-knit, secretive identity, with theological doctrines inaccessible to outsiders and a strong sense of communal autonomy. Though they make up less than 3 percent of Syria’s population, their geographic concentration in the rugged highlands of Sweida has enabled them to preserve a distinctive social and military structure.

 

Historically, the Druze have played a careful game of pragmatism by aligning with central regimes when convenient, yet always keeping one foot outside the state’s reach. That strategy reached its apogee under Bashar al-Assad. During Syria’s long civil war, the Druze largely refrained from joining the armed opposition, choosing instead to tacitly back the regime in exchange for security and limited autonomy. Assad, an Alawite himself - a sect closely aligned with Shiism - relied on such minority alliances to buttress his rule against a largely Sunni uprising.

 

In Sweida, this meant that government forces rarely intervened in local affairs. Druze militias had maintained checkpoints and enforced order. But the arrangement rested on Assad’s capacity to mediate between communities and to keep hardline Sunni groups at bay. With his fall, that balance has evaporated.

 

The current violence was sparked by a checkpoint set up by a Bedouin tribe, where a young Druze man was reportedly robbed and assaulted. This led to a wave of retaliatory kidnappings and armed confrontations. In April and May, skirmishes between Druze fighters and the new security forces had already left dozens dead.

 

The Islamic-led government, formed after the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed Damascus last year, is attempting to project control. But its legitimacy remains contested, particularly among minority groups who fear that the new Sunni-dominated order may prove no more inclusive than the one it replaced. HTS, once a pariah on Western terrorism lists, has been cautiously rehabilitated with Donald Trump recently removing it from its list of foreign terrorist organisations.

 

These moves suggest a realpolitik-driven recalibration in Western policy. But on the ground, minorities remain vulnerable.

Beyond the Druze, other minority communities are facing similar threats. Hundreds of Alawites have reportedly been killed in recent months, and even Christian churches in Damascus have been attacked.

 

Syria’s past offers few reassuring precedents. In 1925, the Great Syrian Revolt, largely led by the Druze against French colonial rule, saw the community emerge as both a symbol of national resistance and a target of brutal suppression. During the Lebanese civil war (1975–1990), Druze militias played pivotal roles in sectarian battles, carving out autonomous zones and sometimes turning against former allies. In Israel, the Druze have often been treated as ‘loyal Arabs,’ serving in the military but also resisting policies that marginalize Palestinians. This history underscores a fundamental truth: the Druze survive by adapting, but their loyalties are not immutable.

 

Today, the stakes are existential. Without the backing of a strong central state, the Druze face growing hostility from Sunni tribes emboldened by the new order. Unless the government in Damascus can offer real guarantees of protection and pluralism, the sectarian patchwork of southern Syria could unravel further.

 

Comments

bottom of page