3 min readNew DelhiJun 29, 2023 05:00 PM IST
First published on: Jun 29, 2023 at 05:00 PM IST
The memoirs of Dr. P Venugopal, the cardiac surgeon who performed India’s first heart transplant, will hit the stands on July 7, announced publishing house Harper Collins on Wednesday.
“Heartfelt”, written by Dr. Venugopal with his wife Priya Sarkar, is a rare account of the world-renowned surgeon’s personal and professional milestones, his crowning achievements in the field of healthcare, and the controversies that surrounded him during his career.
It traces Dr. Venugopal’s journey from a small town to being the director of India’s premier medical institute, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
“Very few know of the trials and anguish that went into pioneering India’s modern cardiac surgery program, or of standing up for the autonomy of its highest institutions. Even fewer know the person behind the surgeon’s scrubs.
“In the evening of my life, I felt it was important to let down my guard and share vignettes of my journey. Some may find inspiration from it; others may find in it justifiable reasons to not do what I did or be as I was. Either way, I’d have paid a debt to the universe by sharing my most authentic, personal self for posterity,” said Dr. Venugopal, who has over 50,000 heart surgeries to his credit, in a statement.
Dr Venugopal is known to have introduced advanced Western concepts of cardiac surgery in the early 1970s in India. In his four-decade-long tenure — during which he was head of the AIIMS cardiothoracic centre and later its dean and director — the 80-year-old has had a ringside view of some of the most impactful medical and political developments of the time.
According to the publishers, for Dr. Venugopal’s patients and students and for aspiring doctors in general, the memoirs provide insights and inspiration from a remarkable life.
“It is a privilege to publish the memoirs of Dr. Venugopal, a pioneer in the fields of cardiac surgery and organ transplantation in India. The candid recounting of his experiences gives us an intimate view of what it means to build and sustain premier medical teams and institutions. In this sense, ‘Heartfelt’ is both a memoir and a valuable historical narrative,” said Swati Chopra, associate publisher at HarperCollins.
The book is endorsed by former union health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan and former AIIMS director Dr. Sneh Bhargava.
“I have had the pleasure to observe his passion and commitment with pride and admiration for almost three decades. It is for the first time that he is speaking about matters personal and professional close to his heart; the story is worth reading and should be present in the libraries of all medical colleges as a role model to follow,” said Dr Bhargava in her praise for the book.
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Dr Venugopal is known to have introduced advanced Western concepts of cardiac surgery in the early 1970s in India. (Source: Amazon.in) 
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