The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : He has helped many breathe easy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 09, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

He has helped many breathe easy

He entered the Madras Medical College as a student and retired last month as head of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery of the Government General Hospital. Rajan Santosham, who specialised in thoracic surgery, tells R. Sujatha how he worked in a niche area in the field of medicine.

Rajan Santosham is a member in 17 professional bodies the world over. Among his achievements are the lifetime achievement award from the Indian Association of Bronchology and admission as fellow to the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons and to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

As a doctor in the GH, he did cardiac surgeries too, but "I have been interested in tracheal surgery," he says. He helped 286 men and women breathe better. On an average, he preformed one major thoracic surgery a day. Though he has done tracheal surgeries at the GH many were performed at Santosham Chest Hospital in Egmore. His father, Mathuram Santosham, set up a lung clinic in 1937 to offer treatment for tuberculosis. But after treatment for TB improved, the clinic offered specialised treatment.

Dr. Santosham surgically corrects tracheal inflammation. "I was sent to the U.S. to train for cardiac surgery. But I knew what I wanted to do," he says, recalling his first trip to America. People who have been on ventilators for a long time develop inflammation of the trachea. Though with improved technology better quality tubes have replaced the `red rubber tubes,' they are still in use in rural areas. He can be contacted at: 2819 2489

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