“Each day, the issues were different and needed to be addressed with a different approach”
For those who think that a homemaker always remains one, Chitra Gopinathan is unassuming. While she literally put her best foot forward during her early stages of life, as a homemaker, the latter half saw her stepping out and touching lives, as the Managing Director of Edappal Hospitals Pvt. Ltd, a role she has been handling since1990. As part of societal conditioning, when women of her age do not give it a second thought to step out of their comfort zone and do something they must have aspired to accomplish, even after fulfilling their duties as a homemaker, Chitra chose to sail against the tide.
The urge to render healing services to the society pushed her to start Edappal Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.,in 1990 with just 20 beds. It was in 1996 that Chitra started CIMAR, a division of Edappal Hospitals that specialises in infertility, an initiative she says could help numerous couples who don’t have a child, Her better half Dr. K.K. Gopinathan, an eminent gynaecologist and obstetrician with specialisation in the field of infertility and a visionary himself was her support system in the journey.
Ask her about the challenges they had to face when they decided to start a hospital that specialised in infertility considering the taboo associated with it in the society, Chitra says, “It was definitely a new concept and initially people were a bit reluctant to accept it though they needed our services. I have even seen people visiting the hospital without telling it to their families. Some even lie to their friends and family as they do not want to disclose that they are consulting an infertility specialist. Moreover, the inhibitions regarding the success rate was also one of the reasons why initially not many people were ready to take our services.”
When asked if she would like to evaluate her growth as a businesswoman, Chitra says that she has evolved each day as a businesswoman, which also has had immense impact on her personal development. “Unlike our home where a problem arises and the solution for it remains the same once devised, the challenges that we had to encounter while setting up the hospitals were entirely different. Each day, the issues were different and needed to be addressed with a different approach. It was definitely a tedious effort but has made us what we are today,” she concludes.
