The good doctor works his magic

Naresh Trehan's reputation, and patients, follow him from Escorts to Apollo.

Recently, 65-year-old Vijay Kumar Mittal from Ghaziabad approached cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan at the Apollo Hospital. He had no clue about his disease, which turned out to be the worst phase of coronery artery disease, a condition where no conventional treatment is effective. Thanks to Trehan and his team, a new method of cardiac surgery, performed for the first time in Asia using the patient's stem cells, helped Mittal recover.

On Saturday Apollo announced the case at a Press conference, pitching it as yet another "first" for Trehan and the hsopital, which he joined three months ago after leaving the Escorts Heart Institute, a cardiac care centre that has three times bigger facilities for cardiac treatment than Apollo.

"It is not an individual achievement. Patients are trusting my team. When I joined Apollo, I had transported my team of over a dozen doctors along with me," Trehan said. "The use of stem cells in cardiac surgery is a fairly new technique and one that is performed in only a few centres the world over. This procedure represents a first in India, and is worthy of a controlled, comparison study to identify the specific benefits of each of the techniques used in combination and as stand-alone procedures. It also opens up the potential for the use of stem cells in a wide spectrum of cardiac disease in the years to come," he added.

The Press conference has more to it than just the surgery. Three months into his new role as Apollo's star cardiac chief, Trehan's magic is doing wonders for patients and the hospital. Ever since he left Escorts, seen as a premier heart-care institution and one where he had worked for decades, the buzz has shifted to Apollo.

Brimming with patients, every inch of Apollo is being utilised today. Coffee kiosks have apparently been turned into duty rooms, a lobby has been converted into a make-shift ward and a VIP patient lounge into Trehan's office. If recent reports by visiting patients and Apollo doctors are to be believed, the 300-bed Apollo is having a great run these days. With all its beds and make-shift wards occupied, patients are awaiting their turn for treatment at nearby hotels.

"Trehan's team alone is seeing at least 150 patients a day. The group is performing 8-10 surgeries. We are sending back at least 10-15 patients every day due to lack of space," a source close to Apollo said. They also pointed out that 80 per cent of the cardiac surgeries at Apollo are carried out by Trehan's team. At the time of Trehan's joining, Pratap C Reddy, chairman of the Apollo Group, had said that Trehan's presence would strengthen the cardiac care programmes of his hospitals.

However, Apollo's gain is being seen as Fortis Healthcare Ltd's loss. Fortis, a Ranbaxy promoter group company that owns the Escorts Heart Institute, is known to have lost a significant percentage of its business due to the exit of Trehan. Even though highly-placed sources in Fortis maintain the loss of business, around 15 per cent, was to be expected, industry sources say the figure is much higher. They point out that Escorts, which used to function to capacity during Trehan's time, does not have as much patient load as in the past.