Who is Anahita Pandole, steering the SUV with Cyrus Mistry in it?

She played a key role in the ideation and formulation of the methodology required for the Jiyo Parsi programme, a Government-funded scheme to help infertile couples from the community become parents. “With time, the Parsi community is witnessing a gradual drop in population. The fertility rate of the Parsi has gone below 1. So, Dr Pandole lent a helping hand to help couples conceive,” said a doctor, who has been associated with her for over a decade. Not only that, with the help of the Parzor Foundation, she helped create a current database of all Parsis living in India for the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs. An associate of Dr Anahita from the Jiyo Parshi programme said, “We are really too disturbed to talk right now. We are just praying for her recovery.” As per the quarterly report published under the scheme, Dr Anahita treated 18 couples in Mumbai between January and March this year. And over the years, besides her fertility treatment, she has counselled Parsi youth and their families for early marriage, conceiving at the right time and training volunteers.

A close friend of Dr Anahita told The Indian Express that she is also associated with Jai Vakeel Foundation where she works for the children with intellectual disabilities. “She not only works for the Parsi community but also helps couples from other communities who can’t afford fertility treatment. She is extremely humane and always comes forward to help people in need.”

Besides being a doctor, Dr Pandole has been an active citizen committed to community service. On several occasions, she has raised her voice against illegal hoardings. Only last week, she wrote to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), opposing hoardings erected on footpaths along the Western Express Highway, arguing they could pose a danger to motorists. “This has to stop,” she wrote in the letter. In the past, she has also filed several PIL regarding the matter. She also fights for preservation of trees and natural habitats.

She has also delivered the first grand-child of Reliance chairman Mukhesh Ambani.

Currently, she is undergoing treatment at the ICU of Sir HN Reliance Hospital. She is on external support systems like oxygen. Dr Pandole sustained multiple fractures, including in her rib and shoulder bone, in the road accident which killed former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and Jehangir Pandole, Director at KPMG Global Strategy Group, on Sunday afternoon.

“But her femur bone in the thigh has been completely crushed. She might have to undergo hip replacement surgery. However, we are yet to decide on it,” said an official from the hospital.

The doctors said they won’t be able to gauge whether her condition is stable until Dr Pandole, who has sustained pneumothorax (collapsed lungs), recovers on her own without depending on the external support system. “Once we reduce the medications, we have to see how her body reacts to it. We will have to keep an eye if her vitals stabilize without the oxygen support and medicines,” said the official.

Dr Pandole is associated with hospitals like Jaslok, Breach Candy, Masina and BD Petit Parsee General Hospital.