With this article we review with Dr. Palomino Bautista the history of Oftalmos, a history of fulfilled dreams, of changes for the better and of not thinking about looking back, not even to gain momentum.
And with these lines he does not intend to make an allegory of the latest advances in eye medicine, but to make a brief reflection on how important it is that “unity is strength”.
Oftalmos was born more than thirty years ago, when a couple of young doctors decided to fight to make their dream come true. And so, as the years went by, this dream, which at the time seemed unattainable, became an absolute reality.
But as time went by, circumstances – like everything else in life – changed and with it the need to adapt. Of that pair of doctors, only one remained, in love with medicine almost as much as with his own life. This intrepid doctor was willing to carry his dream to the end no matter what, and this is where this wonderful team of 8 doctors began to blossom into a solid nucleus within a home, Oftalmos.
We interviewed this great dreamer, Dr. Carlos Palomino, medical director of Oftalmos:
When you started out as a doctor, what was the future you dreamed of:
- Well, probably the one I have right now. To be able to dedicate myself to medicine, to work in a hospital, to be a university professor, to publish research papers, to do research in the most advanced fields. I believe that thanks to destiny I have reached, or at least I am reaching, where I wanted to reach.
How did the idea of setting up Oftalmos come about?
- The idea of setting up Oftalmos arose as a way to offer my patients the greatest clinical and surgical advances in the world of ophthalmology, surrounded by specialists who are also the most advanced in their field.
From being just you as the main practitioner, you decided to expand and form a great team, why?
- Because I believe that Ophthalmology needs a multidisciplinary team to be able to address all the pathologies that patients demand.
What is it that makes you choose a certain doctor to be part of your team?
- They are usually well-known doctors in their field, people who publish in high-impact journals, great surgeons. Within the world of ophthalmology there is a group of professionals in which we all know each other.
Currently you have an eye plastic surgery department, pediatrics and strabology, optometry, cornea, retina-macula, refractive, glaucoma… Do you consider one specialty more important than the other or are they all equally important?
- They are all equally necessary, what happens is that depending on the patient who arrives, he or she may be sent to one department or another. But being super-specialized is necessary in order to offer the patient the most advanced available at that moment in the pathology he is suffering from.
How would you define each of the members of your team?
- I don’t think it is necessary to define each one of them, I think they are all based on the same clinical and scientific standards. They are great doctors in their field, people devoted to their patients, caring professionals who can provide each patient who comes to Oftalmos with the latest knowledge about that particular specialty to reach the best possible port within the results.