Dr Vanessa Pakkiri of Stanwest believes in integrative medicine
Dr Pakkiri did her internship at Tembisa Hospital, that was not an academic hospital at that stage.
Dr Vanessa Pakkiri who took over the practice of the late Dr Aboo Joosub in Stanwest, has an open-door-policy, and intends to focus on primary health care.
That is not the full story of this Wits-graduate since she believes in integrative medicine.
“I don’t like to call myself a doctor, rather a facility for self-healing,” she freely admitted.
“If you don’t understand the science behind the body, you can’t treat people.”
Dr Pakkiri did her internship at Tembisa Hospital, that was not an academic hospital at that stage.
Top-notch European doctors trained the young doctors who knew a lot on academic level, but needed practical experience.
“It was the best learning curve of my life, we had to dive in with surgeries and emergencies,” she said.
From a wet-behind-the-ears girl all the way from Durban, Johannesburg was to become her home.
Dr Pakkiri still has a private practice in Bryanston and her spouse, children and don’t forget the cats, see her over weekends.
Her husband Aban, is in the construction business and Kamran, the son is on his way to complete a degree in marketing, while Yushreya the daughter is 15, going on 16.
She holds strong beliefs that everything you have learnt, should be applied to communities. A decision was made after soul-searching and acknowledging that she was living in an ivory tower.
“I was taking stock of my life the past 10 years and trying to keep up with international standards.”
Hence the move to Standerton, touching the Highveld soil on Tuesday, 3 November.
As an integrative specialist, a consultation could take more than half an hour when the application of traditional Western medicine is considered in a holistic approach.
“I also probed into Chinese medicine and ancient healing practices.”
Not one for curling up on the sofa with only escapism literature, the classics such as Shakespeare, DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy would be the choice.
“I read books for enrichment purposes.”
She can speak a bit of Zulu and Afrikaans, mainly for imparting much-needed medical advice in her consulting room. The doctor confessed to more empathy than pragmatism, more tactfulness than judgmental, with idealism running strongly in her veins.
“I want to do justice to my patients,” she concluded.
