As an inspiration to the medical profession, Dr. Maninderpal Mand relies on his humanitarian efforts to assist in bringing medical care for those who do not have access to medical services. He goes above and beyond the Hippocratic Oath to uphold professional ethical standards. In his benevolence, he has raised funding, and volunteered his services to as many people as possible. If a patient in his pain management clinic could not afford the combined pain medication and physiotherapy solution provided in his service, Dr. Mand would work with physicians and surgeons to make it happen. His magnanimous efforts to assure a patient’s successful recovery far surpass expectations for most any physician.
Dr. Maninderpal Mand attended Western Ontario University, his undergraduate studies were in Science. He had his medical school training over-seas and his internship at various hospitals in Ontario, including The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada, the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada., and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. After graduation, Maninderpal Mand traveled to the United States and worked at Cook County Hospital and The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Following his time in the U.S., he returned to Canada.
In 2009, he became the Founder of the “Save a Life” organization. The organization began to assist people living with cataract disease in India. He began his fundraising in Canada. His objective was to raise funding for people in India who did not have access to medical treatment for cataract surgery. He worked with an ophthalmologist and with the Kasturba Medical College, based in Manipal, Karnataka, India. The medical teams would go into the villages and identify people who required general eye care, and those who required cataract surgery. Subsequently, transportation was sent to the villages and retrieved individuals who required the surgery. The ophthalmologist was able to perform surgery on a hundred patients. The medical teams were also able to take care of the follow-up care. The program has grown to provide services for cancer screenings, as it is a huge problem in India. In addition, they have begun to raise funds for children’s school supplies.
Maninderpal Mand’s family owned and operated a construction and redevelopment real estate business. While working with his family, Dr. Mand opened his own clinic specializing in pain management. The clinic was opened in St. Catherine’s in Ontario where he served patients for many years until he sold the practice in 2018.
Holding true to his desire to make healthcare services more accessible, Dr. Maninderpal Mand has developed plans that will impact the lives in a rural area of Canada. His new project is currently under construction in Bolton, Ontario. He is building a twenty thousand square foot medical center designed to accommodate patients requiring any healthcare services. It will include specialty healthcare offices along with urgent care, laboratories, and much more.
Why did you choose to become a doctor?
From a very young age, I started working in the family business. My family owned and operated a construction and redevelopment real estate business. I always knew that having a business would be a very important part of my life. On the other hand, I was also attracted to the idea of being able to help people daily. I was always very involved in the community and was a part of various charity organizations. I did great amounts fundraising and volunteering, even doing so at the local hospital. I really enjoy helping people. When I volunteered at the hospital, I fell in love with medicine. It made me feel as though this was my calling. That is how I got started in medicine. I love the fact that you can make a positive difference in people’s lives daily.
What area do you specialize in?
When I still had my clinic, I specialized in pain management for many years. I believe people are suffering the most in this area. Before I chose a specialty, I worked in the emergency room. I chose pain management because there was a big misconception regarding the topic when people came to the hospital. Every physician wants to help people, but they have become hesitant to address pain issues. They don’t quite know how to handle requests for pain medications. There is also a small percentage of patients who are abusing opioids and pain medications. Prescribing opioid medications has become more restrictive for physicians. At my clinic, we would work with people who wanted to get better. We work on rehabilitating patients; medicine is meant to be taken for six to eight weeks, not for continual use. During this time, they are taking the medication, in combination with completing physiotherapy. We give them pain injections so that they can tolerate the physiotherapy. If the patient cannot afford the pain injections, we work in conjunction with their doctor to make sure we can take care of them. Physicians understand how critical it is to a patients’ success be able to relieve pain when patients are engaging in physical therapy. As a result, we work together to assure that patients can get the pain relief they require without becoming reliant on pain medication, this were our goals for each patient. I had this clinic until I sold it in 2018.
What is your daily routine?
I am currently working on my new project which is under construction in Bolton, Ontario. I am building a twenty thousand square foot Medical Center. The center will address medical, pharmaceutical, urgent care, an organ center, laboratory, and specialty professional offices. Currently, there is not a hospital anywhere in the area right now. There are small offices and walk-in centers, but there is nowhere that patients can get urgent care or full medical assistance. This will be the only location where they will be able to have full care, which would eliminate some of their travel time at a minimum of 30-40 minutes. We broke ground on the new facility in January, after years of trying to get approvals in place. We are hoping to open by summer 2019.
When you look forward in your career, what trend in medicine do you see impacting your specialty the most? Is it for the better or worse? Why?
The trend that I see the most that will impact is the continued access to having access to virtual care solutions. Many new technologies are being introduced, such as, Telehealth. This is relatively new, and there is a large part of the populations that do not know how to use the technology. It may be a longer transitional period with the latest technology. We also must be very careful with Telehealth, as the privacy of the patients must be protected, which may be difficult as we will be exchanging information over the internet. There will also be times when a physically exam is unavoidable. The best use of this technology would be for people who are living in rural communities with little or no access to medical care.
What do you love about your job?
I love helping people. There is no better feeling in the world than knowing you’ve made a positive impact on people’s lives. Whether it is relieving their pain or making their lives easier, or simply helping a community get better access to healthcare. At the end of the day, it feels good to go home knowing you have made an impact.
What would you consider to be the greatest accomplishment in your career?
First and foremost, my greatest accomplishment would be graduating and becoming a doctor. I also believe the charity work made a significant impact on restoring sight to those who would have been blind. This was a great accomplishment as well.
Tell our readers about some of your volunteer activities.
2015 Caledon Meals on Wheels – providing nourishing meals to the elderly.
2016 Royal Canadian Legion – Raising funding for this organization.
2017 Bolton Camp Restoration Project – We restored the camp for the children in our community.
2018 Raising the Roof – Supports families with intellectual or developmental disability
2009 was the year in which I became the founder of “Save a Life” organization. It started to help people living with cataract disease in India but now as of today has expanded to include cancer screening as well.
When you were seeing patients, what did you do in order to mentally separate yourself from your job?
It is critical to learn to separate yourself and your emotions, in order to make the right decisions about a patient and their treatment. I always use compassion and empathy to make the right decisions.
Where would you like to be in the next five years?
My hope is to continue developing medical centers and bringing access to people who do not have access to healthcare. I would also like to be working with the government, to help implement healthcare policies that have the right impact and would function the way they are supposed to.
Some people are in healthcare administration, who are not in the medical field. They may not identify people as patients, rather as customers; I am opposed to that terminology. When you are a medical professional you enter this field to care for people, finances should not be the primary focus. We are dealing with people’s lives. As a physician, I would like to work with hospitals and healthcare policymakers. I have a business background in addition to my medical training. I believe the combination of both professions would be most beneficial in creating an impactful policy for the industry. I’d like to be in that position within the next five years.