Taking a holistic view of the body
Dr Riaz Motara tells Margaret Harris that his curiosity about the heart was piqued during his medical studies, and led to him specialising as a cardiologist
I am a physician, cardiologist and an entrepreneur. I have been in private practice for the past 15 years. I have a special interest in preventative cardiology — approaching overall health as well as heart health in a holistic way. I founded the Heart Wellness Centre, and I also started Vein-Sculpt: Advanced Vein Care, the first fully comprehensive varicose vein clinic in South Africa. I’m the only doctor in the country that performs a procedure using endovenous laser therapy to treat varicose veins.
Earlier this year, I founded Kardio-Fit, a new healthcare application linked to a blood pressure device that changes the way patients monitor and manage hypertension.
What do you do at work each day?
My day starts with being a husband and a dad. I get up early in the morning and make a fresh glass of vegetable juice for the entire family. I drop my kids off at school, which allows me to connect with them no matter how short time is. Then I get to work. I spend half of my day in my practice treating people. Then I spend some time in the afternoon managing Kardio-Fit. I try not to work on a Friday.
You work a four-day week?
That’s right. It’s one of the ways I try to achieve balance in my life. When I analysed how productive I was on a Friday, I realised I could accomplish whatever I was going to accomplish on a Friday between Monday and Thursday. I work exceptionally hard in those four days, but it allows me a long weekend every week of my life, or time on Friday to catch up with any emergencies.
What do you, as a cardiologist, wish more people did to keep their hearts healthy?
Unfortunately, modern medicine has trained us to be organ specialists, but you are not just a heart, or just a brain or just a kidney. The body functions holistically as an organism. A holistic approach to risk reduction gives you a far better outcome than treating these risk factors individually.
Why did you decide to specialise as a cardiologist?
I don’t know why, actually. My view has always been that the heart is not merely a pump, but the seat of emotion. During my training as a specialist, that organ always fascinated me, so I believe it was just a natural progression for me from the curiosity I had always had.
What gets you up in the morning?
My entire life has been about striving to provide a service. I believe that if you are able to provide a service, everything else follows from that. The minute you make it about the money, without the service, you are setting yourself up for failure. If I’m able to be of better service to people I come into contact with — if I am able to help them grow emotionally, spiritually or financially, or whichever way they want to grow — then that’s what I would like to do.
What did you want to be as a child?
Up until matric I still didn’t know what I was going to do. I applied for metallurgical engineering, and I got a fantastic scholarship. But before I started, I had to go and spend my summer holidays at a refinery, and I realised that it wasn’t the career for me. It was almost by default that I applied for medicine because my best friend at school had, and we always used to compete with each other. Once I started doing medicine, I just knew it was right for me.
What would you do if you couldn’t do this job?
I have so many ideas for what I would still like to do. I would like to teach more, I would like to inspire younger people, I may want to write a book, and I may want to get involved in more community initiatives. But for me right now it’s about being the best at what I can do, and it’s about creating value through service.
What do you most enjoy about your job?
I enjoy the business aspects of nutrition and creating unique concepts and businesses that are able to add value to people’s health and wellbeing.
The primary objective would be to be able to give people a more comprehensive approach to their health and their wellness, or to their wellbeing, and then looking at where I am able to identify opportunities out of patient needs.
What makes you great at what you do?
I think the nature of the way my mind works, and the type of person I am, is that I see solutions rather than problems. I think I have a unique ability to have a look at any situation and be able to be more optimistic. Not just in medical situations, but generally in life.
What makes a good leader?
If you are able to work with the right people with the right energy, and succeed in inspiring them to share in your vision, you will be able to create a special organisation. Allow people to work with you rather than for you. If you allow them to share in and benefit from all aspects of the business, then you will have a greater chance of success. The question of purpose is what inspires and motivates people — it’s all about “why”.
Most people’s purpose truly is to be of service to our fellow human beings. If you create a vision and mission around that, you can truly inspire people as a leader.