Cardio-thoracic surgeon, Dr K M Cherian, is a legend in his lifetime. His 80th birthday was well-organised by his children, Sandhya and Sanjay. A large contingent of his chelas and colleagues under the group Mavericks paid glorious tributes to the work done by this doctor recalling his several pioneering initiatives and bold and innovative practices. KMC gathered rich expertise in his stints in Australia, New Zealand and the USA and opted to return to India.
His several heart surgeries with modest facilities at the Railway Hospital Perambur, later at the Vijaya Hospital, the Madras Medical Mission, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Frontier Lifeline Hospitals and Frontier Mediville were important milestones.
KMC liberally shared his expertise with several developing countries in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. In October 2010 as President, he conducted the World Congress of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons and got it inaugurated with a brilliant lecture by former US Vice President Al Gore. KMC embarked on ambitious
medical research at the Mediville sprawling campus at Gummidipoondi in north Chennai.
At the birthday function, dozens of famous surgeons specially came to Chennai from Kashmir, Delhi,
Mumbai and elsewhere. It indeed was exhilarating to hear so many renowned thoracic surgeons
narrating very many contributions of KMC. One of these mentioned the number of surgeries performed by KMC, exceeding 50,000! This number is still expanding…
