Mahan
warning - graphic content -
Honouring a promise
A regional hospital in Melghat Tiger Reserve , Maharashtra, India.
2015
Embedded for a week documenting patient stories, surgical journey of local patients and the homecoming narrative of Dr Dilip Gahankari - a local who moved to Australia and created as successful Plastic Surgery business - and who then travels back to his hometown once a year to operate for free.
This was my first assignment in a rural hospital, and naturally I didn't know what to expect. Since Mahan, I've been fortunate to document missions in Tonga, Samoa, Mongolia and most recently Papua New Guinea - and with the benefit of hindsight this first trip really was a baptism of fire.
I had only known Dr Gahankari and his family through my other company Clinical Imaging, and his soft spoken nature hides his incredible story of growing up in poverty, educating himself by street lamp and working his way through to the pinnacle of his profession - Plastic Surgery.
