Padmashri Dr Tatyarao Lahane or Tatyarao Pundalik Lahane or for many he is Tatya. There are several people in State who don’t know he is Director of Medical Education and Drugs Department, the top post in State. They know him as ‘Drushti Denara Doctor’ (One who gives vision). His journey began from a small village Makegaon Tal Renapur in Latur district and ended at Mumbai.
He got connected to Baba Amte’s Anandvan as Baba summoned him to come to Warora and restore eyesight of leprosy patients most of whom were visually impaired. Dr Lahane responded to the call and it has become a regular practice for him along with his colleague Dr Ragini Parekh to come to Warora and perform eye surgeries every year for free. After departure of Baba Amte, Tatya continued the practice still. Tatya’s story is not about only Anandvan. The story has several dimensions, it has struggle, it has the aspect of facing the damage of important organ at a very young age, it has the story of learning English at an age when nobody wishes to learn new things and what not.
Tatya is very lucky on two-three counts--he got family for which everybody would envy, wherever he went he was showered with love, and his style of winning the hearts of people. “I come from poor background where nobody would thought of becoming a doctor. But I developed that aim at an early age with a wish to serve the society. In my journey I got full support from my parents for which I would remain grateful to them,” expressed Dr Lahane. It is evident from the fact when Dr Lahane, at a very young age, got his both kidneys damaged. Doctor told him he would die within six months. Dr Lahane started counting days. Somehow the same doctor came with the solution of kidney transplant and Dr Lahane’s mother Anjanabai donated one of her kidneys. Doctor, after extracting kidney from mother’s body, closed the opening through 166 stitches.
She had lot of pain but she was more worried about her son who was in ICU. She visited her son and when Dr Lahane waved at her from ICU, she forgot her pain. This particular incident changed the perspective of Dr Lahane of looking at the society. “I decided to serve society till I breath my last. When Baba called me to Anandvan I happily went there. Some foreign doctors had published one report according to which, 35% leprosy patients lose eyesight during the surgery. I was shocked when I was told about that report. I performed surgeries with 100% success rate that gave sight to more than 1,600 persons. I kept facing such challenges with a zeal to win over those,” Dr Lahane said firmly.
During my tenure as Medical doctor in J J Hospital, my teacher noticed my poverty of English language. He asked me to go for coaching and learn English. I was 40-year-old then. I decided to join private English classes, attended those regularly with a strong will to learn this new language. It benefited me as later on I had to visit several other countries where I dealt with everybody with ease. Dr Lahane became Dean of Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals (J J Hospitals) in 2010. As a dean, he modernised Out Patient Department (OPD). Before that in 2008 he was awarded Padma Shri. Recently, he became the Joint Director and then took over as Director. It is Dr Lahane who gave India the advanced phacoemulsification technology.
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