He started his practice as a cardiothoracic surgeon in 1992. His dream was to show that organ transplantation can be a life-saving procedure in India. But it was only after 12 years that he performed a full transplant procedure on his own, despite a lot of hesitation. He is Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, consultant cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon, currently practicing at the Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad who was awarded the Padma Shri last month.
“A patient was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. He was on his death bed and the only option he had was to undergo a transplant. I was then working with Global Hospitals. The person couldn’t afford to pay for the operation. But the hospital was ready to sponsor and we were all set,” recalls the 55-year-old.
Though everything was in place, Gokhale was hesitant. “There was something that was holding me back. Till that day, I only assisted procedures. I had just returned from a refresher course in the US. I was skeptical because if something goes wrong, I would not only be killing a patient, but also the entire procedure and the likelihood of it becoming a success,” he says. He found support from Dr Shailender Singh, one of his colleagues, and thus the first heart transplant was carried out successfully in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh in 2007.
After this success, Gokhale went on to perform India’s first heart-kidney combined transplant and became the pioneer in performing minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery. In November 2015, when he was with Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, Gokhale’s team flew in a heart from Tamil Nadu within four hours. Three months on, the patient is doing fine.
During his 25 years of experience, Gokhale had performed 14 heart transplants, three lung transplants and close to 10,000 open heart surgeries. The doctor, however, says that his dream is only partially fulfilled and his journey has only begun.
“My job gives me immense satisfaction and I am also getting paid for it. My dream has been to give back to the society,” says the surgeon who hails from a humble agricultural family, and where education was a priority.
The youngest of the four siblings, Gokhale chose to save lives and was always keen to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.
An alumnus of Guntur Medical College(GMC) of Andhra Pradesh, he established Sahrudaya Health, Medical and Educational Trust in Hyderabad. “By 2007, all the alumni of GMC living in the US donated Rs 20 lakh to develop a super speciality wing in the hospital. Being the chairman of Sahrudaya Trust, I proposed to start a public-private partnership. I asked the government for space and equipment. I told them I wanted to build an open heart surgery wing,” says Gokhale
He felt “it was important” as plenty of doctors were choosing corporate hospitals over the government ones. “No private hospital can compete with a government one in terms of space. And I wanted to utilise that,” he says, adding, “I was persistent and met with the then principal secretary L V Subramanyam, multiple times. After a while he too realised that I was not going to give up. Even they wanted to see if the model works.”
With his plans falling in place, he demanded for quality equipment and utilisation of the space that was lying vacant. “For procuring equipment, they considered the tender method. They said purchase will be made from those who quotes the lowest. But I said no, because I wanted only the best. We are talking about saving lives here,” says the surgeon.
Hence the best equipment were bought and Gokhale put together his team of cardiac surgeons and anesthetists through the Trust. Then a government order was brought in, which said that with the help of Sahrudaya Trust the government will conduct open heart surgery in GMC. All this happened in a span of one year, much to the surprise of Gokhale himself. Open heart surgeries were also included in the Arogya Sree scheme of the then Andhra Pradesh government.
Gokhale feels that being a native of Guntur helped him—the people trusted him. “It would have been difficult if I had to move to a different district,” he says.
Till date, 115 open heart surgeries have been performed in this hospital wing. Though the surgeon is proud of this feat, he also has his share of regrets. In his mission to save lives, he has not been able to spend much time with his wife and two daughters, who are also doctors. But at the end of the day, the surgeon is a fulfilled man—to have devoted his time for the benefit of his patients. “I am content and extremely happy,” he says.