Not all heroes wear capes! One such hero is a doctor. Dr Ami Dodia is a General and laparoscopic surgeon. She is one of the doctors at Dodia Hospital. Her expertise lies in aesthetic surgeries like fat-pad removal, liposuction, tummy tucks, and minimally invasive surgeries like varicose veins laser surgeries. Apart from being a surgeon, she runs a firm named D&M enterprise and recently came up with a new venture called The Thepla Junction.

Doctors are considered equivalent to Gods and hence, there is always pressure to keep up with the expectations of the patients or the layman. Being a surgeon, there is always a pressure of no complications during or post-surgery.

Be it the surgeon or the anaesthetist there is always pressure before any surgery. But we always have a protocol to follow before the surgery. The patient’s fitness is checked and approved and only then is the surgery performed. This minimises the fraction of the risk.

Work-Life Balance

Juggling between work and life is an art, and Dr. Ami is well-versed in it. Her greatest superpower is her time management skills. Honestly, it is no child’s play for a doctor to jump between the roles. Although their consultation timings may be limited, they have to be on call 24 hours. Apart from being a surgeon and an entrepreneur, she is a wife, daughter-in-law and mother. These roles are as important as the former. Looking at her daily routine, people often ask her the question, how do you manage?

My days are hectic due to different ventures that I have taken up, but I am a person who gets bored easily and I do not like a monotonous routine.

Multiple roles and switching between the roles take a toll on mental health as well, which is why work-life balance has to be maintained. Dr. Ami is one level-headed woman who knows the drill and can easily switch between her roles.

Take a 15-minute break before switching to the other role. A break where you sit silently all by yourself doing nothing, neither mindless scrolling over Instagram nor listening to any motivational speeches or videos. Give your mind time to settle.

This is her mantra for keeping herself sane at all times and the very fact that she believes in justifying herself in every role that she has to play. If your mind is not given a chance to settle and you continue to use it, you start feeling tired and you tend to give up easily on the situation. Honestly, the ability to manage the roles or switch between the roles may be coming from their journey of being doctors. Their mind is so trained into taking up the worst of situations that managing the tasks comes easily to them. But all of this ability is not cultivated overnight. This comes after years of practice and perseverance.

She emphasizes keeping herself sane at all times. She takes her mental peace very seriously. Let’s face it, the profession she is in requires a lot of focus and concentration. Given the fact that she is a surgeon, she always needs to be skilful and that could be achieved when her mental health is on point. She ensures that her work doesn’t affect her personal life and that is when her sanity helps her. Her belief is that her family requires equal attention, affection and care as her patients.

Apart from all this, she feels grateful to her family to have been her support. I feel privileged to have a progressive husband and family to support and understand me, which plays a very crucial part in keeping me sane.

Life as a Doctor

Ami always aspired to be a doctor like every other science biology student. It requires a lot of patience and the ability to take up the responsibility of human life. She has always been a headstrong woman and clear in her goals. She knew she wanted to take up a surgical field and explore varied aspects. General surgery was a perfect choice for her.

There had been a lot of times when people used to come up to me and tell me to take up some non-clinical or minimal invasive field of medicine. But I was sure of taking up General Surgery because I was confident about myself.

Doing General Surgery gave her multidimensional opportunities. She always had a keen interest towards aesthetics and hence she took up a fellowship in plastic and vascular surgeries at Manipal Medical College, Bengaluru. Dr Ami is a skilful surgeon, her area of expertise lies in scarless results. Aesthetics is a matter of interest, but otherwise, she performs all kinds of stomach-related laparoscopic surgeries and surgeries for the conditions like piles and fissures. She has a good hand at breast surgeries like the removal of lumps and tumours from breasts, and taking up biopsies for the same. Her surgical skills are not restricted to just these and there are many to count. Dr. Ami is young, dynamic and one of the first advanced female surgeons in the city.

Being a doctor is a slow process. While in her young days, Ami was a naive and introverted girl. There were a lot of questions in her mind which included doubts about passing through the phase. The journey of every doctor is more or less the same. They have to go through struggles to understand what success tastes like. The very fact that people look up to me especially young girls and parents of young girls keeps me motivated and realises the worth of the field. Honestly, the struggle is real, but in the end, it is all worth it. The inspiration you place and the respect that you acquire make every struggle a stepping stone to success.

Dr. Ami calls herself a restless and aggressive soul, but when it comes to dealing with her patients she is very patient and understanding. She understands that as a layman they are intrigued about a lot many things and she feels it is her responsibility to answer even the silliest questions that her patients ask. My patients ask me questions as silly as ‘can I eat urad dal? Or can I eat eggs after surgery?’ And I sometimes wonder about the level of creativity of the questions that they have. Dr. Ami was kind to bust the myth that one can consume everything post-surgery provided it should be healthy. Any form of restriction that might be needed post-surgery is well-informed by the doctor. So the next time someone restricts you to eat seafood or citrus fruits post-surgery, you have an answer to their

question. Although she is patient, she likes to draw a line when the patients become restless. There are times when patients start misbehaving over the absence or being late. As a doctor, I know what is an emergency situation and I will act accordingly. If I am late I am obviously occupied with some work and had it been an emergency I would have prioritised the patient. As patients we become restless, but we need to understand the situation of a doctor as well.

Have you ever wondered how it feels to be a female surgeon in a male dominating field? Well, Dr. Ami has an answer to it. She accepts that she has faced gender-biasedness from the patients when it comes to operating. This especially happens in government hospitals where people have a limited mindset that males are better surgeons than females. We need to stop discriminating against doctors over gender. A surgeon is a surgeon regardless of its gender. A surgeon has to be judged on their skillfulness and knowledge rather than their gender. It is a myth that females are not good surgeons. In addition, females have time and again proven their abilities in all fields.

Dr. Ami’s abilities speak for her. She has successfully operated more than 2000 cases till now. And she has been in private practice for the past two years with Dodia Hospital. Her patients call her ‘Garibon ka maseeha’ as she is indulged with many trust hospitals delivering the best of her.

A common emotion that all the doctors share is restlessness. When there is a complicated case, my previous night is restless and there is an entire surgical procedure happening in my head. Also, post performing such complicated procedures, I do get nervous about the results. It feels blissful when complicated cases go well and the patient gets the expected result. Doctors are just human.

Dr. Ami Not as a Doctor

Ami is a fun-loving person, is very social and always ready to explore new things with friends. Who says doctors are boring? Doctors have a life apart from just treating patients. Her ventures D&M enterprise and The Thepla Junction speaks for her.

There is one crazy story that she shared with us. She bought herself a property online while getting bored with the rented apartment that she was living in, in Bengaluru. After making a deal she realised that she had done a crazy thing but being the headstrong that she is, she decided to close the deal all by herself without the involvement of anybody and she successfully has a property owned by her.

Health and Fitness

Health and fitness are the greatest assets of your life. As a working professional, it becomes very difficult to cope with fitness. But Dr. Ami takes her health seriously. As a doctor, I can’t afford to be ill. Moreover, I hate being ill. Due to her multiple work calls, it is difficult for her to consume her food at the right time. Although she ensures her good health by eating mindfully right and healthy nutritious food. She advises all working women to look after their health and prioritise fitness as they have to play multiple roles. Time and again she gets her vitals checked and does not miss out on her regular doses of multivitamins at regular intervals.

As an aggressive person, she loves doing cardio and a bit of running. And she advises the same to all that some form of physical exercise is very important to keep one healthy and fit. It could be yoga, dancing, running or as little as half an hour of walking.

Word of Advice

The field of medicine looks tough and boring and a long tiring process, but it is all worth it. Kids do not want to take up the field of medicine as they are growing impulsive by the day. But one thing that they are not looking at is the stability of their life and career. And just not that the journey of being a doctor teaches you so much in life that you will eventually realise it’s worth.

Also, always believe in yourself and keep taking steps towards your goals. Though late, you’ll eventually reach your goals if you persistently work towards them.

Rapid Fire with Dr. Ami Dodia

Favourite food: any Gujarati dish

Go to person: my husband

Workout style: cardio

Cheat meals: burgers/ pizzas (once in 15 days)

A celebrity you follow most: Kylie Jenner

Sports brand: Nike

A book close to your heart: The Alchemist (It gave me the realisation of my dream)

A movie that touched your soul: None actually

Choose one from below

Comfort or style: Comfort

Indian food or other delicacies: Indian always

Theatres or OTT: OTT

Tea or coffee: Tea

Cat person or dog person: Cats (they are cute)

Mountains or beaches: Beaches, please!

Late sleeper or early riser: Late sleeper (I am a doctor, what do you expect?)

Dr. Ami Dodia

Dr. Ami Dodiya is a remarkable individual, known as "The SHERO" in the field, who has made a significant impact as a surgeon, entrepreneur, influencer, investor, and co-owner of Dodia Hospital. In an industry that is often dominated by men, she stands tall and proud.

Dr. Ami Dodiya obtained her MBBS degree from Terra Medical College and her post-graduate degree from Manipal Hospital in Bangalore. With over six years of experience in academic and clinical practice, she has successfully performed more than 400 surgeries, earning her a reputation as a highly skilled and accomplished surgeon.