What makes someone dedicate a career to reconstructing what illness, injury, or birth has taken away? For Dr. Rajesh Shankar Powar, the answer took shape during his surgical training, in the realization that this specialty offered a chance to restore not just physical form, but function, confidence, and a patient’s ability to simply return to living.
Over more than 27 years, Dr. Powar has built a practice centered on some of the most intricate work in the field. Beyond his surgical and teaching routine, he also serves as a member of prestigious medical associations, including the Indian Medical Association and the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, credentials that only reinforce his place among the country’s most renowned plastic surgeons.
Roots of a Calling
Dr. Rajesh Shankar Powar traces the roots of his calling back to childhood, and particularly to his mother who shaped him more than any other. She understood him, he recalls, better than he understood himself. Long before medicine entered his thinking, he found himself instinctively drawn toward the elderly, the physically challenged, and anyone who simply needed a hand.
His mother took note of this early on. She often remarked that he would find his true calling in a profession where empathy mattered as much as expertise, and it was she who first pointed him toward medicine, urging him forward with quiet conviction.
That grounding found its first real test during his obstetrics posting, under the mentorship of Dr. Shravage. While observing him conduct a delivery, she chose not to merely critique his method afterward. Instead, she walked him through a more refined approach to episiotomy closure, a moment that, though technical in nature, left a deep and lasting mark.
Soon enough, fellow interns began seeking him out to learn or discuss the method themselves, an early taste of recognition that did more than build his confidence. It revealed a principle he has carried through decades since, both as operating surgeon and mentor.
As his training deepened, so did his understanding of what surgery truly demands. Technical ability, he came to see, was only part of the equation, which came along with sound judgment, patience, and meticulous planning. Reflecting on those formative years, Dr. Powar counts himself fortunate to have trained under mentors who gave freely of both their time and their expertise, shaping not just his hands, but his approach to the profession itself.
A Day That Begins the Night Before
At KLE’s Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital & MRC, Dr. Powar’s practice extends across a wide range of procedures, from Cleft Lip Surgery to Rhinoplasty, Breast Augmentation, Abdominoplasty, and Facial Rejuvenation. Yet a closer look at his routine reveals that this work rarely begins at the hospital door. It starts the night before, as he sets aside time to run through the following day’s cases, revisit the operative plan, and anticipate whatever complications might surface.
His days begin early, typically around 6 AM, with arrival at the hospital by 7. The morning hours are reserved almost entirely for the operating theatre, where he spends four to five hours in focused surgical work. Inside that space, distractions fall away entirely, where indeed every patient, irrespective of the complexity of their case, commands his undivided attention.
Once surgery concludes, his focus shifts to administrative duties within the hospital, decisions on patient care, coordination across departments, and the everyday mechanics.
His afternoons are spent at the medical college, where his role as Principal brings a different set of demands, from faculty discussions, academic meetings, student interactions, and administrative matters that often stretch into the evening. No two days look alike, he notes, and it’s this constant variation that makes the position as challenging as it is fulfilling.
Certain evenings are reserved for his clinic, where he continues to see patients directly, a part of the routine he considers the most rewarding aspect of his profession, keeping him grounded in hands-on care even amid his broader responsibilities.
Life Beyond the Operating Theatre
Even on his busiest days, Dr. Powar sets aside space for himself, holding firmly to the idea that those who practise medicine should also live by its principles. Yoga and consistent exercise keep him grounded, both physically and mentally, ahead of whatever the next day demands.
Books occupy a special place in his downtime. Travel, in particular, offers him the chance to lose himself in a good read, a welcome detour from the rhythm of hospital life and a window into ideas beyond his everyday world. Puzzles hold a similar appeal, a Sudoku spotted in a newspaper or magazine is rarely one he can walk past without attempting, a habit rooted in his long-standing fondness for problem-solving in any form.
Music, too, runs deep in his life outside medicine. He finds joy simply in listening, but it’s the chance to perform, through cultural programmes hosted by the medical fraternity, his college, or professional bodies that he values most. Singing, in particular, is a genuine passion, offering a refreshing counterpoint to the discipline of hospital and academic routine.
As Dr. Powar puts it, “For me, maintaining balance is not about having more free time. It is about making the best use of the little time that is available and ensuring that I continue to grow, both as a doctor and as an individual.”
A Surgeon’s View on Tomorrow’s Medicine
Asked how he views medicine’s rapid tech evolution, Dr. Powar responds with the perspective of someone who has watched the field transform many times over. Medicine, he says, has never stood still. Across his career, he has witnessed new techniques, sharper instruments, and emerging technologies steadily fold themselves into everyday practice. “Every generation of doctors has had to adapt, and I believe ours is no different,” he observes.
Robotic surgery, in particular, holds his attention. He points to the precision, superior visualization, and finer control these systems bring to the table. Their growing role in surgical practice, he believes, is all but assured, provided they’re deployed with the same clinical discernment that has always guided good medicine.
Artificial intelligence, he notes, is still a frontier the profession is only beginning to map. But its promise as a support system feels tangible to him, in sharpening diagnosis, parsing data, easing documentation, and helping clinicians arrive at better-informed decisions.
Yet for all his enthusiasm, Dr. Powar draws a firm line. Machines, however capable, cannot read a patient’s fear, comfort a worried family, or shoulder the kind of decisions that demand not just data but experience, ethics, and compassion. “Technology should complement clinical judgment, not replace it,” he says. To the next generation of medical professionals, his advice is simple – stay open. Every advancement, he believes, is an invitation to learn.
