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The Life Story of Dr. Trehan & What Built Him

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Sofia Williams
The Life Story of Dr. Trehan & What Built Him

Way back in 1967, while pursuing his MBBS at King George’s Medical College in Lucknow, Dr. Naresh Trehan felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness for having to watch a lot of his patients die right under his nose. The problem? Heart disease. As a consequence, almost immediately after his graduation, he applied to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia so as to specialise in cardiac surgery. As a matter of fact, in those days, Indians had absolutely no other option than going abroad for cardiac treatment. For Dr. Trehan, it was not only heartbreaking to not be able to help his patients, but was also very disappointing. So, he decided to go abroad to get trained and thereby return with new skills.

The sheer decision to travel to the United States back in 1970 changed his life and career. However, Dr. Frank Spencer, the person he wanted to train under usually had a waiting list of five years and Dr. Trehan was also informed that he did not really interact with foreign students. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Trehan decided to write to him personally explaining his ambitions and skills. To his surprise, Dr. Spencer wrote back to him saying that it wasn’t true that he didn’t consider foreigners and in fact, scheduled an interview with Dr. Trehan as well. Out of thirty-two people that trained under Dr. Frank Spencer, only four were to become chief residents and only one or two would become cardiac surgeons. Considering all the hard work that Dr. Trehan put in, he successfully made the cut and joined the NYU facility back in 1977, where he decided to stay for a while before returning to India for once and for all.

Currently, Dr. Trehan has successfully completed more than fifty-thousand open heart surgeries. Despite decades of success in the medical field and having treated an enormous list of politicians, celebrities as well as bureaucrats, he effortlessly maintains a very humble approach towards his work and career. After having received the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri for all his contribution to the field of medicine, Dr. Trehan continues to strive towards improving the country’s state of health and health infrastructure. His vision to make India a proper hub for cardiac surgery came true when escorts began receiving patients from abroad for treatment. In fact, Dr. Trehan firmly believes that the country will very soon achieve similar success in the field of medical education and research. 

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Sofia Williams
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