The Pioneer of Head and Neck Surgery: The Story of Dr. Lakhumal Hiranand Hiranandani

On 17 September 1917, in the historic town of Thatta in Sindh (then part of British India), a boy named Lakhumal Hiranand Khiara was born into a family of modest means. His father, Hiranand, was a small trader. The family migrated to Mumbai in 1937, and young Lakhumal, determined to rise above poverty, entered Topiwala National Medical College. He graduated MBBS in 1942, completed his internship at KEM Hospital, and soon sailed to London, where he earned the FRCS and DLO in 1946.

Returning to India in 1947, he joined his alma mater and Bai Yamunabai Laxman Nair Charitable Hospital as an honorary ENT surgeon. There he built India’s first comprehensive department of Otolaryngology that included head and neck surgery—an area then considered the preserve of general surgeons. Under his leadership the department flourished, and many of the innovative procedures he devised became known worldwide as “Dr. Hiranandani’s Operations.” The Municipal Corporation later named the department in his honour: the Dr. L. H. Hiranandani Department of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck.

He was the first Indian elected to the American Society of Head and Neck Surgery and the first from the subcontinent—and only the fifth person overall—to receive the Golden Award of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. In 1972 the Government of India conferred upon him the Padma Bhushan. Later honours included the Dhanvantari Award (the first given to an ENT surgeon), the SAARC Millennium Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from FICCI.

Beyond the operating theatre, Dr. Hiranandani was a social activist and philanthropist. He founded the Hiranandani Foundation Trust, which established schools, and he actively campaigned against the illegal organ trade. He continued teaching and consulting well into his eighties at Nair Hospital, Breach Candy and Jaslok Hospitals.

Married to Kanta, he was the father of three sons—Navin (who followed him into ENT), Niranjan and Surendra. The family later built the well-known Hiranandani Hospital in Powai as a living tribute to him.

Dr. Lakhumal Hiranand Hiranandani passed away on 5 September 2013 at the age of ninety-six. In the history of Indian medicine he remains a towering figure—the surgeon who expanded the boundaries of ENT, brought head and neck surgery firmly into its fold, and combined clinical brilliance with a lifelong commitment to education and social good.