Little girl who wanted to fix the world is now a doctor changing lives
As a little girl, Kajal Lutchminarian spent hours wondering how she could make the world a better place.
She would sit with her grandmother, listening to stories about those before her who had grown up facing many hardships.
After hearing those stories, she would imagine one day making a difference, helping people, and leaving a mark that mattered.
Her home in Durban was full of love.
Her father, a dentist, she said, taught her the importance of family and caring for others, while her mother, a teacher for almost four decades, showed her what it meant to work hard, help people, and never give up on a dream.
And so with those lessons in mind, it is no surprise that Lutchminarian, now 38, grew up to become a doctor.
“I grew up in a community rooted in heritage, humility, and hard work,” Lutchminarian said
“It was a childhood of big dreams and the kind of innocence that makes you believe the world is still fixable.”
Even then, she said, she knew she wanted to help people — whether by easing their pain, restoring their confidence, or simply reminding them that they mattered.
Medicine then became her calling.
She pursued it with a determination that left little room for doubt.
“I always wanted to help people feel better — inside or out,” Lutchminarian said.
“Medicine felt like purpose with a pulse,” she said.
Years of study followed, each one more demanding than the last.
She faced financial pressures, late nights, long theatre sessions, and the quiet, unspoken challenges that women often encounter in male-dominated fields.
But she persisted.
Eventually, Lutchminarian specialised in plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgery.
“Plastic surgery blends science, art, and restoration,” she said.
“It is where precision meets compassion, where form meets function, where lives are rebuilt — not just faces or bodies.”
For her, every patient was a reminder of the “human spirit’s capacity for strength and resilience”.
“Every burn patient reminds me how strong the human spirit is.
“Every woman who sees herself again after reconstruction reminds me why I do what I do.”
But medicine is only one part of her story.
She is also a budding entrepreneur.
“Life nudged me. I followed curiosity.
“Every lane I’ve moved into has been guided by purpose, alignment, and a little audacity,” she said.
Throughout her journey, Lutchminarian said she has confronted many emotional stumble-blocks.
“I had the fear of failing publicly, fear of judgment, fear of stepping out of the ‘doctor box’,” she said.
Yet, time and again, she has chosen courage.
“I did it anyway,” she said.
Femininity, for her, was a balance of “softness and steel, of grace and grit, of fire wrapped in silk”.
“Vulnerability gives me depth; power gives me direction,” she said.
Her life is lived between places and passions.
Lutchminarian splits her time between Durban, Cape Town, and Dubai, following wherever her work or creativity leads.
And wherever she goes, she carries the lessons of her childhood — the stories, the values, the belief that life can be made better with care, courage, and creativity.
For Lutchminarian, every part of her journey — whether in theatre, business, philanthropy, or the operating room — is an extension of the same mission.
“That mission is to restore, to uplift, and to remind people of their worth,” she said.
“I have learned that healing is never just physical, that strength is never just about endurance, and that courage often looks like simply showing up, again and again, for yourself and for others.”
IOL Entertainment