Dr. Nagarur Gopinath
(Padma Shri, 1974 – Medicine)

In 1962, in the operating theatre of Christian Medical College, Vellore, a team of surgeons held their breath as a heart-lung machine took over the work of a young patient’s heart and lungs. When the atrial and ventricular septal defects were successfully closed and the boy recovered, India had achieved its first successful open-heart surgery. The surgeon who led that historic operation was Dr. Nagarur Gopinath.

Born on 13 November 1922 in Bellary, Karnataka, to Nagarur Narayana Rao and Sundaramma, Gopinath completed his MBBS from Madras University in 1945. He later earned master’s degrees in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery. A Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1957 took him to the University of Minnesota, where he trained under the legendary C. Walton Lillehei, one of the fathers of open-heart surgery. He returned to India determined to bring these advances home.

At Christian Medical College, Vellore, he headed the Department of Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Surgery from 1960 to 1964. There he performed pioneering operations, including the landmark 1962 procedure. In 1964 he moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, as Professor and Head of the newly created Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery. He established open-heart surgery at AIIMS, launched India’s first formal M.Ch. training programme in the specialty in 1966, and trained generations of surgeons—many of whom went on to lead departments across the country. He also advanced rheumatic heart surgery, pacemaker implantation, and the understanding of juvenile mitral stenosis, and helped set up a heart-valve bank.

He served as honorary surgeon to two Presidents of India. Colleagues remembered a meticulous and demanding teacher who never lost sight of the patient. One young trainee, after a long and difficult case, asked him how he remained so calm under pressure.
Gopinath replied quietly, “The heart is a remarkable organ. When we respect its complexity and prepare thoroughly, it often forgives our imperfect hands. Our duty is to be ready.”

The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 1974. Four years later he received the Dr. B.C. Roy Award, the highest honour in Indian medicine. After retiring in 1982 he continued as Emeritus Professor at AIIMS and turned his attention increasingly to preventive cardiology.

Dr. Nagarur Gopinath passed away on 3 June 2007 at the age of eighty-four. He is remembered as the father of open-heart surgery in India—a pioneer who built not only successful operations but entire departments, training programmes and a tradition of excellence that continues to save lives.