Preetisha Chutturdharry: Creating her own job

Endowed with perseverance, humility and driven by passion, Preetisha Chutturdharry is the Chief Executive of Pro Rehab. A humble and pretty young professional who has started a journey to bring solution in the occupational therapy world, she unveils her story, her challenges and dreams to the readers of News on Sunday.

28-year old Preetisha Chutturdharry has over five years of experience in occupational therapy. Instead of getting a job in this field or setting up her own practice after her studies at the University of Mauritius, she took a very unusual direction. After winning the success.mu competition, with the help of people working in the healthcare field, she decided to launch the Pro Rehab centre.

PRO Rehab is a company which regroups qualified health professionals namely Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists and Physiotherapists to give rehabilitation services to people with difficulties. It is a one-stop shop which caters for the need of children, adults and elderly. The aim of the company is to make rehabilitation services accessible to all. Along with delivering services in the centres, the therapists also do home-based therapy.

Preetisha cherished the dream of becoming a doctor, but due to lack of funds, she could not realise this dream. “I had to study in Mauritius and enrolled on an occupational therapy course. I fell in love with this field, as it had both medical and social aspects. Gradually, I developed a passion for my work,” she says.

After her studies, she realised that finding a job would be tough given the market was saturated. Far from accepting defeat, Preetisha decided to think outside of the box and bring novelty in the field of occupational therapy. Hence Pro Rehab was born. Today, she is the CEO of the rehab centre and manages a team of ten people. “I manage the day to day operation of the centre, look at the administrative procedures and work on the strategies.”

Self-learning pathway

Preetisha did not build her business overnight. Behind her success, there is indeed lots of hard work and perseverance. “I always take something good out of every situation. I had a tough start. I had to swim against the tide. Changing people’s mentality is really difficult and introducing something new takes lots of time. I had only the knowledge related to my field and was unaware that daily management of a centre was demanding. I had to learn about time management and improve.”

Being solution oriented, she never gave up. She persevered till she made a name for herself in her chosen field. “I am a determined person. If I always feel is right for me and my community. I become aware that the venture I had initiated would benefit many people in Mauritius and my conviction had given a second life to many people who came to us, especially parents.”

Future endeavour

Preetisha does not want to stop here. Her dream is to take occupational therapy to a new level, where each individual can benefit from it to lead a peaceful and healthy life. She wants to make her centre to cater for inpatient care. “For the time being, the centre does not cater for in-patient facilities. There are individuals or even children who need intensive therapy and need professionals to accompany them during those sessions. Thus, in such cases, if there is in-patient facilities, the treatment can go very well. We will be working in this direction.”

“We should never ignore the power of rehabilitation. Today, rehabilitation is gaining ground around the world. So, we will be striving to propose this as a solution for many children and give them the ability to live a normal life.”

Social work

Preetisha is also a member of the Rotaract Club of Port-Louis since 2015. She has been involved in various community-based services. “I have been working on different projects since I joined Rotaract. I have been contributing in sustainable projects. Bringing my contribution has been a real pleasure and I love being part of the organisation.” Her vision in life is to bring good in the life of people. “I am heading towards defining my purpose in life. I want to bring positivity in people’s life.”

In order to achieve her dreams and vision, she is undertaking self-development programmes. “For self-improvement, I am reading self-development books. I am still learning to be efficient and becoming a good leader. There is still room for improvement,” she reveals. Moreover, the charming lady is passionate about swimming and travelling. “I really like to swim and relax. I want to travel around the world and discover different cultures as well taste good food.”