‘Lucky’ Doctor

Hailing from a medical background, Dr. Laxmikant Kasat, popularly known as Dr. Lucky Kasat in and around Thane, pursued medicine to become a pediatric surgeon. Today, he is revered as one of the best pediatric surgeons in Thane as he has the exceptional medical acumen and vast experience of over 20 years in the field.

Dr. Lucky recalls, “My father is a surgeon in Amravati. He had his own hospital of 50 beds. He always challenged me in a friendly manner to become a doctor. Taking that challenge in my stride, I decided to become a doctor. First I wanted to become a neurosurgeon but then I thought that I would be perhaps restricted to only one part of the otherwise enormous medical field. I made up my mind to become a pediatric surgeon . I completed my MCh Pediatric Surgery from KEM College , Mumbai . It is quite ironic that I opted for pediatric surgery because back then I used to get disturbed and irritated on hearing children cry.”

Despite his father having an established practice in Amravati, Dr. Lucky left the city as there was not much scope for him there then . He mentions, “Majority of the pediatric surgery cases in Amravati were referred to doctors in Nagpur and Mumbai . I knew there was going to a cut throat competition in those cities. I therefore decided to come to Thane, a place which I knew did not have any residing pediatric surgeon back then. My friend Dr Girish Patwardhan advised me to start my practice in this city.” Dr. Lucky came to Thane with a suitcase, a scooter, 150 visiting cards and Rs. 35,000. In his initial 2 years of practice , he stayed as a paying guest!

He reminisces, “On my very second day in Thane, Dr Girish and I went to Dr. Suhas Kulkarni, who was the leading pediatrician then and still continues to be one after over three decades of service. Dr. Kulkarni shared one surgical case with me and asked whether I would be interested in taking it up. This is how my journey started.”
Later, Dr. Kasat worked with surgeon Dr. Kushal Mital of Manisha Hospital. He adds, “In the first month itself I performed eight surgeries. I used to travel with all the instruments on my scooter to different hospitals.”

Over the last 20 years, Dr. Kasat has performed in excess of 5000 surgeries. He avers, “Pediatric surgery is a very demanding branch of medicine. It is a 24*7 job and requires a lot of patience and assistance from the medical staff.”
During his journey, Dr. Lucky has come across numerous challenging cases. He shares, “Every case is challenging since a child is involved. I remember a case of a two-month old baby girl. She had come along with her parents from Bhiwandi. Her abdomen was like a football. Earlier the doctors thought that the bloating was because of gas . As the abdomen remained large for some days, the case was referred to me. Since they came from a modest financial background, they didn’t opt for sonography. We just got the x-ray done. I saw some bones in the abdominal mass in that x-ray. The only way out for me was to open her abdomen. It was challenging. To my shock, there was a full formed baby in her abdomen! I removed that dead baby from this two month old baby’s abdomen (known as fetus in fetu) and now that child is fine. She is now 10 years old.

Dr. Kasat shares another challenging case in which he removed an unimaginable seven-inch appendix in an eight year old boy. It is the largest appendix removed in children in India. Apart from these two challenging cases, he has dealt with several cases pertaining to correction and lengthening of short penis in children, which is his specialization. Dr. Kasat is associated with best hospitals in Thane such as Kaushalya, Bethany and Jupiter, apart from his own practice at Medicare Hospital in Thane.

Commenting on the problems faced by infants and children, Dr. Kasat elucidates, “There are congenital (since birth) problems observed in some children. The congenital problems could be because of late marriages and resultant late child births. These problems may require multiple surgeries. Once the child is a little grown up, due to changing lifestyle, some become obese. Food habits lead to such early complications. The casual attitude of parents towards their child’s food intake can also lead to child’s obesity. Since COVID-19, we are witnessing more overweight children. In case of any surgery , the recovery time for obese kids is slow and they are more prone to infections. Performing surgeries on them is difficult. I constantly create awareness among parents about this. Till now I have conducted more than 120 lectures for the parents.”

Dr. Kasat adds, “Give food to the child only when he or she is hungry. Frequency of the meals is more important than the quantity. Ensure that the children do not eat while watching television or laptop because if their mind is diverted it affects their chewing. Avoid chocolates, junk food and instant food for kids. Atleast till eight years of age, children should not be exposed to such types of food. Birthday parties with such junk food are the most dangerous for children. It is suggested that the parents feed their children proper food before sending them for the parties.”

Apart from the food advice, Dr. Kasat sheds light on the ideal time duration for kids to watch content on television or laptop or mobile. He explains, “Ideally till the age of three, children should not be exposed at all to television, mobile or laptop. The radiation coming out from these devices cause problems. It is important to understand that the brain’s maximum growth happens in the first three years. It is recommended that children in the age group of three to eight can watch television for half an hour, three to four times a week only .”

Being in this noble profession for over two decades, Dr. Laxmikant Kasat has done phenomenal work in the field of health care. His work just doesn’t stop at treating the patients that come to his hospital. He also runs a service project by the name of “Sutah Pranada” , which offers financial help to people, who cannot afford their child’s surgeries.

Dr. Kasat, apart from being a wonderful doctor, is an equally eloquent motivational speaker. Dr. Lucky delivers talks on Self-Leadership, the 4 leadership quadrants, business etiquettes, IKIGAI and KAIZEN, solving the Chakravyuha of life and Stillness in action the Samurai way, among many. His talks are popular across different sections of the society.

He has delivered more than 1,300 talks to date, receiving more than 150 standing ovations. He had the highest audience of 1,900 on a zoom talk and 1,200 people six times, receiving standing ovations from this large gathering too.

In fact, it is surprising that he has received 18 standing ovations on zoom talks in lockdown.