The Most Proficient Surgeons to Watch 2019 The Most Proficient Surgeons to Watch 2019-SMALL | Page 43
The Most
Proficient Surgeons
to Watch 2019
D
r. Palin Khundongbam, an
outstanding surgeon and a
successful entrepreneur set to
change the medical conditions for the
people of Myanmar, believes,
“Happiness is the only way to happiness.
Unhappiness cannot solve our problems
except draining our energy and
enthusiasm. Unhappiness can be traced
to the thinking of painful past
experiences or the fear of the future. If
we are conscious of our consciousness,
we can remove these thoughts and be in
the state of no thought but stillness or
awareness at present. This is the time
when we can innovate and succeed.” This
positive spirit was very much fascinated
by the grand stories of a few doctors and
set out to pursue the profession. He
bagged the degree of MBBS from RIMS,
Manipur, and MS (General Surgery)
and MCh (Plastic Surgery) from PGI
Chandigarh.
Beginning of Shija
In the 1970s, Dr. Khundongbam saw that
many patients from Manipur went to
Dibrugarh and Alipore in Assam and
CMC in Vellore for healthcare treatment.
He realized people lacked trust in the
local healthcare facilities. To rectify this
situation, he started Shija Clinic, attached
to a pharmacy at Paona Bazar, Imphal, in
1985, with minor operation facility and a
side laboratory. Soon, Shija became a
leader in piles treatment in eastern India
by providing non-operative piles
treatment facilities. The company grew
and shifted to a rented, bigger, 9-bedded
hospital on RIMS Road in 1988 and later
SET TO BRING POSITIVE CHANGE
“Resistance to change is the major challenge we face in
the journey of Shija,” says Dr. Khundongbam. “We resist
change for fear of uncertainty. We have been
conditioned to think the same way right from the
childhood period and developed a deep rooted belief
system. We have been successful in changing the culture
to some extent, but the war is not over until the war is
over.” Due to the efforts taken by him and the
organization as a whole, their relationship with the
patients and their relatives has improved. Having started
the journey with a strong passion, they at Shija continue
to put the organization into system without losing that
passion.
Through all the challenges in his way, Dr. Khundongbam
has stayed highly motivated and emerged out better and
better. Talking about this growth and what drives him, he
asserts, “Gradually, we have become more spiritual than
ever. We, now, realize that our thoughts are energies
and will be manifested externally. We are responsible for
our own thoughts and thus the destiny.” He continues,
“My relationship with the present moment is my
motivating factor. It is the only space we have, nothing
else. Everything in life unfolded in the now.”
Dr. Khundongbam was a part of the surgery which set a
Guinness World Record in April 2004. A ten days baby
boy, weighing 3 kg, came in with a huge neck swelling
and had a neck tumor. The tumor weighed 1.2 kg and
they removed it successfully. The baby tolerated the
major surgery well and recovered. The tumor was of
40% of the total body weight (TBW) and was the largest
neck tumor ever excised successfully in the world. In
2004, they received the certicate for setting a new
Guinness World Record and it was published in the book
in 2006.
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