Dr KVT, veteran medical trainer, dies of Covid at 92

Dr KVT, veteran medical trainer, dies of Covid at 92

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  04.10.2020

Veteran physician and teacher Dr K V Thiruvengadam, 92, who was hospitalized with Covid-19, passed away on Saturday, two weeks after his wife Dr Malathi died of the infection. The doctor helped establish the first allergy clinic in a government hospital and played a key role in streamlining medical programmes in Madras Medical College.

Known as ‘Prof Dr KVT’ among his students and peers, Dr Thiruvengadam was revered for his dedication in serving the poor while also passing on his knowledge on the nuances involved in clinical diagnosis to his students. KVT, who graduated from Stanley Medical College in 1950, began his medical service at the hospital and later transferred to Madras Medical College where he served as the director of general medicine between 1976 and 1984 before he retired. Many doctors who have carved a name for themselves in the field of medicine were his students.

Diabetologist Dr V Mohan called KVT the ‘teacher of teachers’ who taught his students the art of clinical medicine. “He was an out-and-out clinician. For him, it is a cardinal sin if you don’t examine a patient properly. How to feel, how to palpate, how to observe right from the time a person walks in, the amount of time he would take to examine from the head to the legs, he taught us that art,” he said. “Though primarily his interest was chest disease, he was an all rounder and a walking encyclopedia, there’s nothing he did not know.”

Dr C Rajendran, retired director and professor of medicine, Madras Medical College, recalled how he groomed his students as good clinicians when there were no advanced investigational tools and also inspired them to follow a methodical patient-centric approach. “Those days, we had only a stethoscope, ECG, x-ray and blood test and with that we learnt from him how to make rare diagnosis as well as common diagnosis, which we otherwise could miss. He was teaching till his last day at work,” he recalled.

Dr M Arulpitchai Narayanan, chairman of Arma Medical Foundation, recalled his free classes, always a full house, in the Railway Hospital auditorium for nearly 25 years after his retirement. “The class would have around 150 students, who would attend just to listen to him. He would explain exactly what you see in the textbook and also what happened in John Hopkins in Washington or in Harvard yesterday. He was upto-date with the latest in the field. He was a role model for a doctor and would always talk about the health of people below the poverty line,” he said.

According to Dr H V Hande, he would only take patients referred to him by other doctors at his clinic, where he practised till March before he had to close due to the lockdown. “When we refer patients, he would send back a long letter explaining what the disease is and what should be done. He could spot the disease with precision and with minimum inexpensive diagnostic tools,” said Hande.

KVT received many accolades for his contribution to the field including the Padma Shri in 1981. “He was not only a great teacher and a doctor, but also a loving husband and a father. He was admitted on September 20, a few hours after his wife. His wife passed away four days later, and he didn’t even know. He was initially responding well to treatment, but passed away on Saturday morning,” physician Dr Rawlin Augustine said. KVT is survived by three children.

‘TEACHER OF TEACHERS’: KVT began his medical service at Stanley Medical College, his alma mater