Kauvery Hospital Chennai, a unit of Kauvery Group of Hospitals, a leading multispecialty healthcare chain in Tamil Nadu, announced the expansion of their Heart and Lung Transplantation unit by appointing Dr Kumud Kumar Dhital and Dr Srinivas Rajagopala.

The team is headed by Dr Kumud Kumar Dhital, who is the Program Director of the Heart and Lung Transplantation unit. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon, specialized in Heart & Lung Transplantation. He has over 25 years of experience in Cardiothoracic Surgery and 20 years of experience in Heart & Lung transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support therapy in the UK, Italy, and Australia. Dr. Kumud is also globally renowned for being the surgical pioneer of DCD (Donation after Circulatory Death) Heart Transplantation, the first of which was performed in 2014 whilst he was at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia, which was widely reported as the world’s first Dead Heart Transplant. This procedure has been described as the most significant advancement in heart transplantation over the past 3 decades and has been adopted by all thoracic transplant centers in the UK and several European centers, and has seen significant uptake recently also in the USA.

The team also has Dr Srinivas Rajagopala who is the Director of Transplant Pulmonology & Lung Failure Unit and a Senior Consultant in Interventional Pulmonology & Sleep Medicine.

Dr Srinivas Rajagopala has over 19 years of experience in Pulmonology and Intensive Care. He is nationally well known for his interest in evidence-based management of lung diseases and was involved in many donor lung assessments and extravascular lung perfusion assessments during his Fellowship at Toronto. He gained rich and varied experience in Pulmonology, Intensive Care, and Transplant Pulmonology at several National and International Institutes such as PGIMER, Chandigarh, JIPMER, Puducherry, Royal Adelaide Hospital, McMaster University, Hamilton, and Toronto General Hospital.

The Heart and Lung Transplant team’s primary role shall be management of advanced heart & lung failure, heart & lung transplantation and, institution of mechanical circulatory support devices.

“We are delighted to have Dr Kumud Kumar Dhital and Dr Srinivas Rajagopala, on board with us at Kauvery Hospital. They are seasoned professionals and medical experts who have a combined experience of more than 40 years. Their global track record in complicated heart and lung surgeries has inspired many healthcare professionals and hospitals. We, at Kauvery Hospital, are confident that patients with complex and advanced Heart and Lung failure shall immensely benefit from their extensive knowledge and expertise. Our Heart and Lung Transplantation programmed shall vastly improve the quality of life of patients, and save many lives,” said Dr Aravindan Selvaraj, Co-founder & Executive Director, Kauvery Hospital.