ONE of the oldest nursing homes in Goa is the Hospital Maternidade of Dr Antonio Pinto do Rosario at the Porvorim market area. The Hospital Maternidade of Dr Antonio Pinto do Rosario was established way back in 1938, by Dr Antonio Pinto do Rosario of course, the father of Dr Sidney Pinto Do Rosario. This old world hospital started with a 10-bed maternity home and later expanded to 25 beds.
Son Dr Sidney Pinto do Rosario had to take over the running of the nursing home at the age of 25 years, when his father passed away after a sudden heart attack. Dr Sidney has been managing the maternity and nursing home for over four decades. The three generations of Rosario’s, which now includes the daughter Dr Deepti Pinto Rosario, have delivered more than 50 percent of the babies born in the Porvorim and Mapusa areas.
The legacy of Dr Antonio Rosario has been maintained and expanded by his son, Sydney, with the third generation now taking over the reins running the small hospital. But Dr Sydney, in his 70s now, still attends the OPDs of the hospital to deal with patients. Dr Sydney is more than a gynecologist. He is the trusted old-time general practioneer (GP) for hundreds of families, not only in Porvorim but the whole of north Goa. His hospital maintains the highest ethical standards and has always refused to do abortions. The ever-smiling Dr Sydney Pinto Rosario is a friend, guide and confidant to his patients. A GP like this is very hard to find in today’s times.
Sydney had lovingly maintained his over 200 years old ancestral home attached to the hospital where his OPD clinic runs. Sidney also has a unique talent for making friends. I met Dr Sidney soon after I came to Goa in 1983. Dr Sidney took me to his ancestral home with high-ceiling rooms, old world crafted furniture and very warm hospitality.
There is a chapel attached to his ancestral home which is maintained by the family. Dr Sidney believes that laughter is the best medicine and has a collection of jokes which he shares with his patients to entertain and relax them. Dr Sidney is perhaps the last of our old-style doctors who is dedicated to his patients, remembers their names and knows their family members, and maintains the highest professional standards of medical care.
Some of Goa’s top-notch surgeons used to operate at the Pinto Rosario nursing home, including the late chief minister of Goa,Dr Wilfred Dsouza and Dr Datta Gaitonde. Dr Sydney embodies the spirit of the Scouts & Guides movements and is the president of the Scouts Association of Goa. The Dr Pinto Rosario Nursing Home is one of the iconic hospitals of Goa.

EYE-CARE SPECIALIST
EYE-care in Panaji, if not in Goa, is synonymous with Dr Ulhas Kaisare. Dr Kaisare is the pioneer ophthalmologist, who has taken care of the eyes of three or more generations of Goans. If anyone has an eye problem, the first name on everyone’s lips is that of Dr Ulhas Kaisare. Dr Kaisare has always had the best equipment for testing the eyesight or vision of his patients. Dr Kaisare has always been committed to updating technology and buying the latest equipment coming out to aid better ophthalmology care of the eyes.
More importantly Dr Kaisare has a very reassuring presence. People with eye problems suffer from fits of anxiety. It is our eyes which our windows to the world and also the soul, it is said. The eyes are the most important sensory organs of life. I have known personally how very thorough Dr Kaisare is in his eye examinations and also the patient.
Dr Kaisre was among the first ophthalmologists to undertake cataract operations in Goa. Dr Kaisre even does complicated retinal surgeries. When I was on large dosage of steroids after one ravaging incident in my life as an editor, and came very close to losing my eyesight due cataracts and glaucoma and no one was willing to operate on my eyes, because the reaction of the body to anesthesia under steroids is unpredictable, it was Dr Kaisare who came to my help and successfully removed the cataracts in my eyes at the old Bhandari hospital at Mala. The hospital is now part of Healthway Hospital as is run by an executive group of doctors.
Dr Kaisre is so popular that it takes weeks to get an appointment with him. But the wait is well worth it. Dr Kaisre has set up his own hospital with a full-fledged operation theatre at Jairam Complex, Mala, in Panjim. One of his sons, Dr Amit Kaisare is also an ophthalmologist surgeon and Dr Sumit Kaisare is a dentist. Daughter-in-law Dr Priti Kaisare is a pediatrician. If you go to the Kaisare Hospital, you can get both your eyes and teeth attended to. My dentures were made by Dr Amit Kaisare at the Kaisare Hospital.
But Dr Kaisare senior father began his practice in 1976. He has an MS from Bombay University. His patients includes the late chief minister of Goa and later defense minister, Manohar Parrikar, and the Maharani of Sawantwadi. Dr Kaisare continues to practice from the first floor of Shivram Apartments near the Mahalaxmi Temple.

GASTRO-SPECIALIST
COMING to the gut or the gastrointestinal system, your best hope is Dr Jose Filipe Alvares, the pioneer in gastroenterology in Goa. Dr Jose Alvares did his MBBS in Bengaluru and specialized in gastroenterology in Mumbai at the Nair Hospital. Dr Alvares has been practicing as the consulting gastroenterologist since February 2005. Dr Alvares has his principle clinic at the Victor Hospital in Margao. He also practices at the Daffodils Hospital and Remanso Holy Cross Hospital in Margao.
Normal diagnostic tools, x-rays, CT scans and even MRIs, cannot provide an absolute accurate diagnosis of the gut. Dr Alvares was the first to introduce ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) in Goa. An endoscope is a thin tube that passes through the rectum to detect and treat small growths like ulcers and even cancer in the gut, at his clinic at the Victor Hospital. He performs more than a dozen endoscopies daily. He is the most experienced trusted gastro doctor in Goa and as veteran patient of Goa I’ve had the privilege of being treated by Dr Jose Filipe Alvares. A more endearing human being and doctor would be hard to find. What he has in common with my other icons written about here, is his very gentle and persuasive attitude towards patients.
Dr Alvares just about guarantees painless, very smooth procedures, in what can be very traumatic experiences when equipment is put through your mouth to see what’s going in your gut far down below and pictures are taken. Dr Filipe Alvares is truly the master of the gut in Goa.

RADIOLOGY- SPECIALIST
WHEN it comes to radiology, the first choice of both doctors and patients is Dr Raghuvanshi, who has over 40 years of experience in the field of diagnostic imaging. This includes x-rays, ultra sounds, CT scans and MRIs. It is not widely known that Dr Raghuvanshi was born and brought up in Diu, a former Portuguese colony in Gujarat which was under the administrative control of Goa in the old pre-Liberation years. Dr Radhuvanshi received his training in radiology at the Goa Medical College & Hospital. He specialized in ultra sound technology at the KEM Hospital in Mumbai. Throughout his career he has been a pioneer in ultra sound and colour dopler imaging, with particular focus on 3D and 4D ultra sounds and dopler studies. His expertise extends to digital x-rays, mammography (which is used to detect breast cancer and CBCT scans).
The Radiance Diagnostic at Dona Paula which was established in 2010 is the first independent diagnostic centre in Goa. The facilities includes breast MRI, liver elastography and whole body flash scan. Apart from Dona Paula Radiance has diagnostic centers in Margao and Mapusa and these are equipped with the latest 1.5 Tesla RI, CT Scan, USG Colour Doppler mammography x-ray, 2D echo and OPG.
Dr Raghuvanshi attends to patients at his humble old clinic at the Gurudatta Building at Panaji. However, his daughter and son-in-law, both of them radiologists, have are also in the same practice of radiation diagnostics. At Radiance center Dr Deepa Nadkarni is the senior consultant.