Balancing act: family and career
FORENSIC pathology is a field commonly dominated by men but Salona Prahladh is making strides in the industry, having just graduated with her Master’s degree.
For her dissertation, Prahladh, 33, a medical doctor from Durban North, focused on missed injuries in motor vehicle accidents.
“Forensic pathology is basically conducting postmortems for unnatural deaths. There are times when injuries are missed by the hospital and picked up during an autopsy.
“My dissertation focused on the treatment in hospital and how we can better evaluate the patient,” explained Prahladh.
The mother of two completed her medical degree in 2008, went on to complete a two-year internship at King Edward VIII Hospital and thereafter did her community service at a provincial hospital.
In 2012, Prahladh decided to specialise in paediatrics but gave up after six months.
“It was very hard for me to adjust to treating children because some of the cases left me heartbroken and I could not go on with it anymore.
“A family friend advised me to get into forensic pathology.”
Before making a decision, Prahladh visited a mortuary to see how post-mortems are conducted.
“To some it may seem eerie but for me, I felt that by taking on this field I would be helping families get closure as unnatural deaths are extremely difficult to deal with.”
She enrolled at UKZN and, after four years, has graduated.
Prahladh attributed her success to her family, including husband Shekar Roopan, 33, an orthopaedic surgeon.
“I worked long hours, as we can get called out to a crime scene or be asked to testify in court. I have my husband and children to care for and I had to attend lectures and do assignments. This seems like a lot but for me, pacing myself and striking a balance between what I needed to do helped me a lot.”
Prahladh advised the youth, and fellow mothers, to never give up on their dreams and career goals.