By Dr Kavitha Vegunta

Apparently, there are 3 rules to run a successful business. Fortunately for me, I didn’t know any of them.

Like many women from a conservative country such as mine, I grew up in a sheltered environment with minimal exposure to matters of business or finance. I was taking a huge gamble when I started a private dental practice on my own. It was a path less trodden and predictably filled with potholes. I fell repeatedly, dusted myself off each time and kept going…. to reach where I am now, running a successful dental practice with a loyal community that I am insanely proud of.

Life, I think, would be infinitesimally boring if it were to be predictable. It turned out I was more right than I would have really liked. We were hit by a raging global pandemic of proportions none of my contemporaries have ever witnessed, upending planned contingencies and traditional business wisdom.

It hit my team bang in the midst of a planned, scaled expansion of the business. Overnight we had to shut down, having to cancel every single appointment in the foreseeable future. The rule book had flown out of the window, so to speak. There was a period of utter confusion with very little direction or protocols, because clearly no national body had anticipated or prepared for this predicament.

When we did manage to reopen, albeit in a phased manner, it came with its own set of challenges. The shortage of PPE, the unfamiliarity of staff with donning and doffing, the grumbling uncertainty and fear of exposure at a time when vaccination was not yet available, and limited ability to extend our best possible care for our patients.

We had staffing shortages which hit us hard - and meant we had to turn away patients in pain and distress, and we had to ration care and prioritise treatments; something that torments me to this day. We moved on, taking it a day at a time. Collectively we obsessed over optimisation and efficiency until we achieved a result we desired. No, the results were not always up to scratch, nor was it all smooth sailing, but we got there eventually.

The pandemic no doubt was hard on everyone, especially people with young kids who had to work from home. On a personal front, unlike some of my colleagues, I was fortunate enough that my children were old enough to look after themselves, having found a much reluctant but passable sous chef in their dad.

Like many I knew from my community, it was a time of grim fear for our extended family back home in India. I lost a much-loved grand mum who I was very close to, left to my own devices to process the grief, as there was no possible way to indulge a last look or word, given the draconian travel restrictions.

As is the case always, my family was my saviour. At times exasperating, even infuriating but always loving and nourishing one back to health in times of uncertainty and anxiety, as it should be.

Clearly, we are not out of the woods yet. Every day brings with it a fresh set of quandaries that needs innovative solutions, necessitating out of the box thinking. Clichéd as it sounds, I still think the pandemic has made me and my team more resilient, better equipped than ever to stare down the next challenge.