Dr. Philip Augustine, Padma Shri
Gastroenterologist, Endoscopist & Hospital Administrator
A young doctor once asked him after watching a complex endoscopic procedure, “Sir, how did you decide to stay and build services in a small town instead of moving to a big city?”
Dr. Philip Augustine replied thoughtfully, “People need good care wherever they live. If we bring advanced gastroenterology to them with dedication and teamwork, we can change outcomes right here. Excellence is not limited by location.”
That belief shaped both his clinical pioneering and his institution-building.
Philip Augustine was born in Kaduthuruthy (near Ernakulam/Kottayam region), Kerala. He completed his MBBS from Kottayam Medical College, University of Kerala, in 1971. He earned his MD in Internal Medicine from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, in 1975 (with a gold medal) and DM in Gastroenterology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, in 1982. He received advanced training in endoscopy and ultrasonography at centres in the USA, Germany, France and Switzerland.
He began practice at a clinic in Koothattukulam and in 1983 established Kerala’s first private-sector gastroenterology unit at Deva Matha Hospital there. In 1992 he moved to Kochi and built a leading Digestive Diseases Centre at PVS Memorial Hospital. In 2003 he founded Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre, one of the major multi-specialty hospitals in South India, which he led for many years. He later established Philip Augustine Associates and currently serves as Director of the Centre of Excellence in Gastrointestinal Sciences at Rajagiri Hospital, Aluva.
Dr. Augustine is recognised as a pioneer of therapeutic gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary endoscopy in India. He has special expertise in pancreatic diseases, tropical pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. He is credited with the first authentic report of Crohn’s disease in India (presented in 1995) and has contributed to the introduction of advanced techniques such as double-balloon enteroscopy, wireless capsule endoscopy, SpyGlass cholangioscopy and related procedures in Kerala. He has published extensively and served as President of the Indian Pancreas Club and as a member of the ICMR panel on pancreatology.
The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2010 for his services to medicine. He has also received the Olympus-Mitra Endoscopy Award (Indian Society of Gastroenterology, 1994), the F.P. Antia Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award (ISG, 2022), and the Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award from the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation.
Even after decades of clinical and institutional leadership, Dr. Augustine continues to focus on advanced GI care and training.
“True progress in medicine,” he says, “comes when specialised knowledge reaches the patients who need it most—through skilled hands, teamwork and well-built institutions.”
From a small-town clinic in Koothattukulam to founding major gastroenterology centres and a leading hospital in Kochi, Dr. Philip Augustine has helped establish high-quality digestive-disease care in Kerala and advanced the field of therapeutic endoscopy in India.
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