His hands have cared for the hearts of thousands, literally. From giving injections to the dolls of his sister when he was just two years old to attempting a mock operation on his friend at the age of four, Dr Ashok Seth has grown up to become India’s top-ranked cardiologist. He is a doctor with a difference, who believes in miracles. “Being from a family of doctors, it was only natural that I became one too. But my journey in cardiology was a destiny designed by God,” says the Padma Bhushan awardee of this year, adding, “I was initially studying to become a gastroenterologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Birmingham University in England. However, a very good position in cardiology came up at the institute and my professors insisted that instead of continuing as a gastroenterologist, I should become a cardiologist.” It was the time when interventional cardiology was developing and he was right there at the beginning of a transformation in the field. “It was a great experience to witness such changes unfurl in front of my eyes in my chosen field, especially interventinal cardiology that has developed by leaps and bounds. It gives me great joy to be a part of it and contribute to its growth,” says the doctor.
When Dr Seth returned to Delhi after working overseas for almost a decade, he wanted to recreate the same expertise and excellence in medical sciences that he had witnessed abroad. “I was part of setting up one of the foremost and free standing heart institutes in Delhi, the Escorts Heart Institute,” says Dr Seth. On October 3, 1988, he was the first heart surgeon to do an angiogram and andrioplasty surgery at Escorts. “Having grown up ‘cardiologically’, it gave me great pleasure to see the city grow as a centre of excellence and we worked hard to provide people with services for which they no longer needed to go abroad,” says the Chairman of Fortis Escorts Heart Institute. When asked where the heart of the city lies, he replies with a smile, “Delhi is dil (heart). By itself, it is the heart of the country. This is the city with the right atmosphere and research facilities. With the kind of support, encouragement, understanding and medical services available here, the capital city is at par with any other advanced cities in the world.”
Even today, after doing thousands of surgeries, Dr Seth feels the toughest thing is not pulling complicated operations off but facing a patient’s relatives when a operation is unsuccessful. “It hurts here,” he says, pointing to his heart, adding, “It’s not about an open heart or the blood one sees, but the death of a patient is the most difficult thing to overcome. The day I stop getting emotional will be the day I cease to be a doctor.”
It is faith in God, hard work, sincerity and passion that keep him going. He believes in ‘miracles’ and gives us an example of how he overcame an almost incurable pain in his arm with the blessings of his guru Sai Baba. “It was the most testing time for me. I almost gave up work for weeks and was about to go for a spinal surgery abroad to cure it. However, when my guru touched my arm and blessed me, my pain vanished within a week and I was back in the hospital,” he says. His eyes mist up as if he is praying silently to God for granting him a fate in which he could serve so many people. Every day he wakes up with a prayer and thanks God for each beautiful day and seeks His blessings for his family, friends and especially his patients.It’s the heart that matters.