Dr Cherian’s network of friends spread across globe
Jan 27, 2025, 03.46 AM IST![](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/thumb/msid-117586161,width-400,resizemode-4/117586161.jpg)
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Yet, he remained humble, often seen visiting wards, offering expertise, and mentoring a generation of surgeons.
Earlier this week, at the Kerala Literature Festival, he reflected on the hearts he healed — 20 Iraqi children among them — and his role as a diplomat in freeing Indian drivers from imprisonment in Iraq. His life’s story, captured in his autobiography “Just an Instrument”, was unveiled there, offering a glimpse into a life lived at the intersection of compassion and courage.
Dr Cherian’s network extended globally, with close associations with renowned surgeons like South Africa’s Dr Christiaan Barnard, who performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant, and Dr Walton Lillehei, the American pioneer of open-heart surgery.
From being honorary surgeon to the President (1990 to 1993) to earning accolades like Padma Shri and a Harvard Medical Excellence Award in 2005, Dr Cherian’s journey was nothing short of extraordinary.
He didn’t just mend hearts — he inspired them, leaving a heartbeat that will echo forever in the lives he saved and touched. His essence was best captured by his WhatsApp status: “Live life king size.”This story had continued from a page 1 story in the newspaper. For your reading convenience we have added it below.
Heart surgery pioneer Dr K M Cherian dies at 82
Chennai: The man who gave many hearts a second chance to beat passed away late on Saturday at the age of 82. Dr Kotturathu Mammen Cherian, a pioneer in cardiothoracic surgery, performed India’s first successful coronary artery bypass in 1975, the first heart transplant after brain death legalisation, and introduced heart-lung and paediatric transplants to the nation.
Dr Cherian was in Bengaluru for a wedding when he collapsed late at night. “We rushed to Manipal Hospitals, where he was declared dead at 11.55pm,” said his daughter Sandhya Cherian. His mortal remains were brought to Chennai and the last rites will be held on Jan 30, family sources said.
After graduating from Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, Dr Cherian began his career as a lecturer in surgery at Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore. He later moved to Australia to specialise in cardiothoracic surgery and worked in New Zealand and US.
“He was well settled in US when he decided to return to India,” said cardiac surgeon Dr N Madhu Shankar.
For a salary of less than 500 a month, Dr Cherian joined Southern Railway Headquarters Hospital in Chennai. It was here that he performed India’s first coronary artery bypass surgery on 39-year-old Integral Coach Factory employee Kaja Moideen, who went on to live another 28 years. In 1976, he operated on 44-year-old Daisy D’Costa, who celebrated her surgical anniversary with Dr Cherian in April 2024.
At the railway hospital, Dr Cherian trained many surgeons and spearheaded innovation. “The railway hospital under Dr T J Cherian offered him state-of-the-art equipment available at that time,” said senior transplant surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan, who trained under him. “But Dr KMC was still a daring man. His innovations yielded incalculable benefits.”
Dr Cherian’s heart always beat for innovation. Whether experimenting with blood vessels in pigs or daring to place an extra heart in two dogs in 2017, he was unafraid to tread uncharted territory, even sparking medical and ethical debates.
“We succeeded in the experiment, but none of us was bold enough to try it on a human,” said Dr Shankar.
Dr Cherian wore many hats: founding Madras Medical Mission, building Frontier Lifeline Hospital and establishing a 370-acre medical science park.
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