Dr. A. S. Soin (Arvinder Singh Soin), Padma Shri

Dr. A. S. Soin (Arvinder Singh Soin), Padma Shri
Liver Transplant Surgeon – Pioneer of Liver Transplantation in India

A desperate family stood before him after being told elsewhere that a transplant was impossible.

“Doctor, is there any hope left for our patient?”

Dr. A. S. Soin looked at them calmly and said, “In liver transplantation, hope is what we work with every day. With careful planning, a living donor and precise surgery, we can give a second chance at life. Let us see what is possible.”

That quiet determination has helped thousands of patients receive the gift of a new liver.

Arvinder Singh Soin trained for eleven years at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, earning his MBBS and MS degrees and specialising in liver and gastrointestinal surgery. He then obtained FRCS qualifications from the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and further specialised in transplant surgery at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

He returned to India determined to establish liver transplantation as a viable option for patients. On 6 November 1998 he performed the country’s first successful cadaveric (deceased-donor) liver transplant, followed days later by the first successful paediatric liver transplant. He went on to achieve many other firsts in India, including the first successful living-donor right-lobe and left-lobe transplants, combined liver-kidney transplant, ABO-incompatible living-donor transplant, dual-lobe transplant, swap transplant and domino transplant.

He established major liver transplant programmes successively at Apollo Hospital (1998–2001), Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (2001–2010) and, since 2010, at Medanta – The Medicity, Gurugram, where he serves as Chairman of the Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine. Under his leadership the Medanta programme has become one of the largest and most successful in the world, performing a high volume of transplants with success rates around 95–97%. He has personally performed well over 3,500–4,500 liver transplants (the highest number in India), including hundreds of paediatric cases, and more than 12,000 complex hepatobiliary surgeries. He has also trained over a hundred transplant surgeons who now lead programmes across India and beyond.

The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2010 for pioneering the development of liver transplantation in India. He has also received the R. D. Birla Outstanding Clinician of the Year Award (2010), the Zee TV Swasth Bharat Samman, and numerous other national and international recognitions.

Even after decades at the forefront of this demanding specialty, Dr. Soin remains focused on the human outcome.

“A successful transplant is not measured only by surgical statistics,” he often says. “It is measured by the patient walking out of the hospital to live a full life again.”

From the first successful liver transplant on Indian soil to building world-class programmes that attract patients from across the country and abroad, Dr. A. S. Soin has transformed liver failure from a near-certain death sentence into a condition with real hope of recovery.