Dr. MS Valiathan, the iconic cardiologist and one of the pioneers of health technology innovations in India passed away on July 17, 2024. The legendary medical technology innovator is one of the celebrated sons of Kerala, who literally advanced the concepts of Kerala Renaissance in the realm of modern medicine. He also sought to bridge diverse streams of traditional medicine with modern medicine.

The AIDEM pays its tribute to Dr Valiathan here, through this obituary written by Balagopal Chandrashekar, himself a renowned serial entrepreneur, who was also a civil servant and former Chairman of the Federal Bank. The AIDEM is also reproducing a special audiovisual episode of its series “People and Places” dedicated to the exploration of Dr Valiathan’s contributions in the field of medicine in general and the State of Kerala in particular. This episode is practically a historical record, which highlights the social, political and entrepreneurial milieu of the 1970s and the 1980s and the immense boost it gave to India’s overall industrial and economic growth.

Remembering Dr. MS Valiathan

Balagopal Chandrashekhar

This morning I got the news that Dr. MS Valiathan had passed away the previous day at Manipal. Dr Sanjay Behari, Director of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) called me to convey the news, and to also invite me to the memorial meeting being held at SCTIMST on July 18 at 1 PM. Since I am at Kochi, and it will be difficult to get there on time, I plan to join online in paying respects to the great soul.

I first met Dr. MS Valiathan in March 1983 in his spacious office at the SCTIMST Hospital wing. I was then 30 years old, and in the IAS. I had visited the Institute to look around, since a friend had told me about the interesting work happening there. I met Dr. Valiathan, who was the Director, SCTIMST and I listened to him speak animatedly about the vision behind the setting up of the Institute.

Even then, I felt an inexplicable bond beginning to form with this handsome dapper man behind the desk, in a wood panelled office that was adorned only with two other photographs. He explained, noticing my eyes on the photos, that they were Dr. Charles Hufnagel and Dr. Wilhelm Gott, who were his teachers.

Answering the then Kerala Chief Minister C Achutha Menon’s call to return to the State and set up an advanced institute for medical sciences and technology, he went on to set up the SCTIMST, ushering in modern cardiac and neuro surgery in the country in a public hospital. He then went on to set up the Bio Medical Technology Wing in a large campus across the city, that went on to become the only institute of its kind in India and Asia, and one of the few in the world.

As fate would have it, I was so stirred by his vision, that I went to the BMT Wing and met AV Ramani, who headed the research campus. These two meetings combined to become my epiphany! Till then I was a young guy who was doing well in his IAS career, and had not given much thought to the rest of his life. I resolved by the end of the day to quit my job, and set up a venture to commercialise the blood bag knowhow that had been developed at SCTIMST and was ready for technology transfer.

Against great odds and confounding the pundits, my small startup succeeded, and went on to become the largest maker of high quality blood bag systems in the world! Although my father did not live to see this happen (my mother fortunately did), I was most gratified when Dr. Valiathan spoke about me and PENPOL (the firm I had set up) in the warmest terms, going so far as to say that it was this venture that established the SCTIMST as an institute for translational technology development in the medical domain.

Dr. Valiathan will be remembered for many accomplishments during his long and illustrious career. I will always remember him for inspiring a young man to take a huge risk and venture out on strange seas, propelled by a vision he set before me. RIP, Dr. MS Valiathan, surgeon extraordinary, great scientist and institution builder and inspiring leader.

Watch the seminal special episode of “People and Places” with Balagopal Chandrashekhar on Dr. MS Valiathan below.

More details about Dr. MS Valiathan can be found here.