Dr. Joginder Lal Gupta
(Padma Shri, 1974 – Medicine)

In 1963, when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Health Minister Dr. Sushila Nayar visited Nagpur and saw the work being done in burns and plastic surgery, they recognised a rare talent. They invited the young surgeon to Delhi. At the age of thirty-five, Dr. Joginder Lal Gupta accepted the challenge and founded the Department of Burns, Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery at Safdarjung Hospital. Within a few years it became the largest and most respected burns centre in the country—still known today as the Mecca of burns management in India.

Born on 4 July 1928 in a modest village in the Kullu region (then part of Punjab), Joginder Lal grew up inspired by his uncle, the renowned physician Dr. Devichand. He secured admission to Lahore Medical College, but the Partition of 1947 uprooted everything. He found himself in a refugee camp in Jalandhar, injured and displaced. Many would have given up. He refused. With the help of a local social worker and legislator, he continued his studies, completing his MBBS after further moves, including time in Calcutta. He went on to earn his MS and specialised in plastic surgery at AIIMS, collecting gold medals and the fellowships of the Royal Colleges along the way.

At Safdarjung he built not just a department but an entire system: dedicated intensive care, high-dependency wards, specialised operation theatres, physiotherapy, and training. In 1966 he started the MCh programme in plastic surgery. During the 1971 war the unit treated large numbers of casualties. He tirelessly advocated for dedicated burn units across India and later co-founded the National Academy of Burns India to standardise care and training.

Colleagues remembered a demanding yet deeply compassionate chief. One young resident, exhausted after hours of dressing extensive burns, once asked him how he found the strength to continue year after year.
Gupta looked at the patient in the next bed and said quietly, “Every scar tells a story of pain that could have been prevented or lessened. Our work is to rewrite as many of those stories as we can.”

He received the Padma Shri in 1974 from President V.V. Giri, the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1976, and the prestigious Dr. B.C. Roy Award the same year. Burn care remained his passion until the end. Dr. Joginder Lal Gupta passed away on 23 January 2024 at the age of ninety-five, leaving behind a department that still treats thousands of patients each year and a generation of surgeons who carry forward his exacting standards and quiet humanity.