“Tamil Nadu has best organ donation bank,”. says Dr KM Cherian – Chairman, Frontier Lifeline Hospital

“One just has to keep on thinking, especially during the night,” he says with a smile. However, there is just one thing that he doesn’t remember exactly— how many lives he has touched. “There must be thousands,” he says when pushed for a number. 

Dr Cherian, who was in the DT Next office to interact with the team, is clearly passionate about research. A torchbearer of paediatric cardiac surgery in India, Dr KM Cherian, believes that research holds the hope for making healthcare affordable for all. Stemming from this belief is Frontier Mediville, first SEZ Medical Park in the country. Located in Elavur Village in Tiruvallur district, the centre is one-stop solution for healthcare, education, training, basic research and contract research outsourcing activities. 

Dr Cherian talks about the facilities at the 360-acre park, “We are the largest private animal testing facility in the country. The centre concentrates on a number of areas like stem cells, tissue engineering, bio prosthetic valves and amplification of blood cells and bio reactor. We are also focusing on artificial organs like heart, which at the moment requires Rs 1.25 crore as investment per heart. The cost can be brought down considerably if we make them here. We are awaiting the nod from ICMR and DCGi. If that happens, we would be the third country after US and Brazil to manufacture our own valves.” Pointing to the medical aspect of make in India campaign, he says, “When I had met PM Narendra Modi, I told him single window clearance can alone make it successful. At the moment, we have 100 windows to pass through for clearances,” he adds. 

He adds that localisation is the solution for the high cost of healthcare. “Basic research should be part of the curriculum in medicine. We need our own research and only then will healthcare be more affordable. At the moment we barely focus on research in any field, leave alone medicine,” he says. 

A staunch supporter of an effective organ transplant network, Dr Cherian, who also was one of the forces behind legalisation of the concept of brain death, says there is a huge gap with respect to recipients. “Tamil Nadu has the best organ donation bank. But what about the recipient pool? A heart transplant would cost Rs7.5 lakh at our hospital, and higher in some places. How can a common man afford it? Is there any insurance scheme for these people? Is the government supporting it?”. 

His name is engraved in one of the stones at Kos Island, Greece along with three other Indian surgeons, at the birthplace of the medical profession and Hippocrates, the ‘Father of Medicine’. With over 40 years in the field of medicine, accomplishing one milestone after the other, he has carried out the first successful coronary artery graft in India, first bilateral lung transplant, first paediatric heart transplant, first auto transplant, first heart and lung transplant. Now, at 74, he continues to push the boundaries in the field. The Padma Shri awardee places more importance on acceptance. “Awards and honours matter nothing to me, acceptance is more important. Like my father who lived till 97 and always emphasised on contentment, I am also contended. Money was never my focus. If it were, I would have never given up a well-paying job abroad to join the Railways as Ad hoc Assistant Medical Officer in the 70s,” he says.