Scrolling through my social media feed, I stumbled upon a video of an Indian doctor who has an extraordinary way of giving injections to children.
As a child, I hated medicines and injections. Like many children, I would cry at the slightest discomfort. So, watching a doctor turn what could have been a frightening experience into a moment of laughter and joy immediately caught my attention.
The doctor is Dr Imran S. Patel, a paediatrician and digital creator from Veraval, India, popularly known as the “SRK of Medicine.” He has become widely recognised for bringing empathy, humour, and joy into children’s healthcare.
What struck me most was not simply his medical skill. It was his understanding that treating a child is about more than administering medicine. Sometimes, the greatest medicine is the ability to make someone feel safe.
A Calling Born From Compassion
Dr Patel’s journey into medicine began during his childhood, when his brother suffered from a serious cardiac illness.
Watching his brother endure long hospital stays exposed him to the difficulties that families experience when dealing with illness. But he also witnessed something else: the compassion of doctors who brought comfort and hope during a difficult period.
That experience stayed with him.
It inspired him to pursue medicine, not simply as a profession, but as an opportunity to bring the same kind of comfort to others.
After completing his MBBS, Dr Patel initially hoped to become an orthopaedic surgeon. When that path did not work out, his love for children eventually led him toward paediatrics.
He later secured a stable medical job, but something was missing. Financial security alone did not give him the sense of purpose he was looking for.
Driven by a deeper conviction, he took a financial loan and established the Asian Children’s Hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
It was a bold decision. But sometimes purpose requires us to step beyond what is comfortable and pursue what we believe we were meant to do.
Turning Fear Into Laughter
As Dr Patel treated hundreds of children, he noticed something that goes beyond medical charts and diagnoses.
For many children, hospitals are frightening places. The sight of a syringe can be enough to trigger fear. The anticipation of an injection can sometimes be more distressing than the procedure itself.
Dr Patel decided to approach the problem differently. Instead of focusing only on the injection, he focused on the child.
He uses eye contact, humour, songs, playful movements and distraction to help children relax during procedures. What might ordinarily be a frightening moment can become an experience filled with laughter.
And that is what makes his approach so inspiring. He reminds us that technical expertise and human compassion do not have to exist separately.
A doctor can be highly skilled and still make a patient smile. The teacher can teach a lesson and still make a struggling student feel valued. A parent can correct a child while still making that child feel loved. A business owner can make a profit while still treating customers with dignity.
Our professions may be different, but the opportunity to make someone else’s experience better is available to all of us.
Beyond the Hospital
Dr Patel’s influence eventually extended beyond his hospital.
Videos showing his joyful interactions with children began spreading across social media, introducing his approach to people around the world.
But he has used that platform for more than entertainment. He advocates for evidence-based medicine, challenges harmful myths and encourages people to seek appropriate medical care rather than relying on dangerous self-medication or superstition.
He has also supported medical care for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and spoken about the importance of improving access to healthcare.
His story demonstrates something important about influence: Influence becomes more meaningful when it is used to serve others.
The internet can be used to chase attention, but it can also be used to educate. It can be used to promote ourselves, but it can also be used to promote hope.
It can be used to entertain people for a few minutes, but it can also inspire someone to change the way they treat another human being.
What Can We Learn From Him?
Most of us are not doctors. We may never work in a hospital, never hold a syringe in our hands or treat hundreds of patients every day. But we don’t need to be doctors to make a difference.
And sometimes, making the world better doesn’t require a grand gesture at all. It may simply mean noticing that someone is afraid and doing something to make them feel less afraid.
Dr Imran Patel’s story reminds us that compassion is not an extra feature of excellence; it is part of excellence itself.
The world does not only need brilliant people. It needs brilliant people who care.
It needs teachers who care, doctors who care, leaders who care, entrepreneurs who care, parents who care and ordinary people who are willing to make extraordinary differences through simple acts of kindness.
We may not be able to change the whole world. But we can change someone’s world.
And perhaps that is where real change begins. Do what you can. With what you have. Wherever you are, because making the world a better place does not always begin with a grand plan.
Sometimes, it begins with a smile, a helping hand, a kind word, or simply choosing to make someone else’s difficult moment a little easier.
