Dr Kushagra Katariya

Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Gurgaon, India

“One of the most gifted surgeons I have ever met.” That was how another cardiac surgeon described Dr Kushagra Katariya. Two months later, I was there to see it myself.

It’s 2009 and I am in Gurgaon, India, just outside Delhi, at Artemis Hospital where Dr. Katariya is both the hospital CEO and its chief cardiothoracic surgeon. I meet him in his office and the first thing I see is a wall covered with plaques. Best in this, first in that.

Dr Katariya gives me quick rundown of his career. The son of a surgeon, he goes to the US and does his residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, where he is awarded most outstanding surgical resident. He then becomes Chief Resident (more awards), then Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Miami then Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Miami VA Hospital.

I am thinking, “right, so what are you doing here running a specialty hospital in India?”. Before I could finish the thought he’s asking me rhetorically, “so what am I doing here running a hospital in India?”. Mind reader too.

It’s a long story, but the Reader’s Digest version is that Dr Katariya, like many other talented Indian doctors, are going back home. You’ve heard of technology transfer? Well, this is talent transfer.

Dr Katariya invites me to tag along while he visits an American patient from North Carolina recovering from by-pass surgery. We then go down to the cath lab and review the studies of a patient who needs bypass surgery. No mucking about. He meets the family, lays out the options, makes his recommendation and schedules surgery the following day. We leave the cath lab and he takes a call from a patient in the US who needs heart surgery.

We then walk into a room packed with journalists who are there to cover a story about a life saving surgery Dr Katariya performed just a week ago. A heart tugging story, lots of questions, and when asked to explain the complexity of the surgery he responds simply, "like repairing a water main in the middle of a storm during a blackout with a clock ticking loudly inside your head".

He’s as cool as they come.

For more information check out Dr Kushagra Katariya's profile on Medeguide

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