The Heartbeat of Kerala: Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram’s Journey of Life-Saving Firsts

Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram changed Kerala's history of Cardiac health when he walked into an operating room in Medical Trust Hospital, Kochi on May 13, 2003, forever. Leading a team of doctors, he performed the state’s first successful heart transplant, giving a second chance at life to Abraham, a 36-year-old patient who had almost lost hope. Two decades later, Dr. Periappuram’s name has become synonymous with medical breakthroughs and compassionate care. Even now, a complicated case will end up on his table for consultation. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 2025.

Early Life and Education

Jose Chacko Periappuram was born in South Paravur, a small village in Ernakulam district, Kerala, born to P. M. Chacko and Mary Chacko. His father was a botanist who was credited with the discovery of two plant species and also served as a principal at St. Thomas College, Pala, Kottayam District from 1979 to 1984. After completing his matriculation studies from St. Ephraim's High School, Mannanam,(Kottayam District) he joined St. Thomas College, Pala, from where he earned a BSc with botany as the optional subject. He passed MBBS from Govt. Medical College, Kottayam in 1985 and after a year of senior house surgeon at the Kottayam Medical College, he proceeded to the United Kingdom for post-graduate education and training.

Cardiac Specialist Training Abroad

Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram completed his FRCS part 1 from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in Dublin, in 1986 and completed his general surgical training from various hospitals in the Republic of Ireland. This included the County Hospital, Roscommon, Our Lady's Hospital, Drogheda, and the Mater Misericordiae Hospital at Dublin. He passed his FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons of Glasgow and Edinburgh in the year 1992. His higher cardiac surgical training was mainly at the University Hospital of Wales and Manchester Royal Infirmary and passed the FRCS in cardiac surgery in 1994. His mentor was I. M. Breckenridge, who was a member of the team which led the first heart surgery in England in the 1960s. After working in University Hospital in Wales, Cardiff, UK for 7 years, he returned to Kerala.

Pioneering work in Kerala

On his return to Kerala, after a decade in UK, Periappuram joined Medical Trust Hospital, Kochi, where on 13 May, 2003 a team led by Periappuram performed the first heart transplantation on a patient named Abraham from a donor named Sukumaran in the state of Kerala, thus making it the third state in India to achieve this feat.^[3][4] He performed a second heart transplant the following year. His landmark achievements include:

• First successful heart transplant in the state of Kerala, India

• First successful heart retransplant (A second heart transplant after the first fails) in the country

• First heart -lungs transplant in Kerala

• His other achievements include the first 'Off pump coronary artery bypass

• Awake bypass

• Total arterial revascularization (TAR) surgeries in the state. ^[1]

He was the first heart surgeon to commence a beating heart surgical program in Kerala.

Challenges In Heart Transplant

He has expressed that the most difficult part about heart transplantation is harvesting the organ from the donor. Since most of the donors are young, approaching grieving families for an organ at that time is an emotionally taxing job. The heart is not viable after 4 hours of death unlike other organs which can be stored for longer hours. Since the whole process has to be completed before the window closes, the families of the donors have to be approached at the early hours of death. This becomes a tough job for the doctors and everyone at the same time. The cultural and social factors also cause a hindrance in case of organ donation sometimes. ^[2]

Public Engagements and Advocacy

Dr. Periappuram is the Chairman of the Heart Care Foundation, a charitable trust that he started to financially assist poor heart patients and spreads awareness about cardiac health. The foundation supports government hospitals in Kerala, in raising funds and providing life-saving cardiac surgeries to thosw who cannot afford them.

Its flagship project, Save a Heart, Save a Life, aims to help 1,000 patients undergo heart surgeries in government hospitals over ten years. It also trains common people in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and increasing awareness about cardiac events and diseases.

The foundation publishes a quarterly magazine, Caring Hearts, which educates the public on heart disease prevention, symptoms, and treatment.

He advocates to raise awareness about higher fatalities in women related to heart diseases due to the lack of awareness of symptoms and later diagnosis. He points out that women are diagnosed later. In11,000 operations he has completed during a span of five years, there are just 225 women in the statistics highlighting the gender gap.

Dr. Periappuram has published extensively on heart transplantation and related topics in medical journals and also given a TED talk about the relevance of heart donation and the experience he had in his position as a leading cardiac surgeon.

He has also written a book in Malayalam about his work and experiences as a leading cardiac surgeon named 'Hridayam Thottu' (Touching the heart).

He received Padma Shri, (4th highest civilian award) from Government of India for his work in 2011 and Padma Bhushan (3rd highest Civilian award) in 2025.

References:

1. Lisie Hospital, “Doctor Profile: Dr. José Chacko Periappuram,” Lisie Hospital, accessed August 26, 2025, https://www.lisiehospital.org/index.php/doctor/dr-jose-chacko-periappuram.

2. “A Heart for Humanity: In Conversation with Padma Bhushan Dr. José Chacko Periappuram,” The Week, February 16, 2025, https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2025/02/16/a-heart-for-humanity-in-conversation-with-padma-bhushan-dr-jose-chacko-periappuram.html.

3. “The Heart of the Problem,” The Hindu, date unknown (accessed August 26, 2025), https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/the-heart-of-the-problem/article28443904.ece.

4. “When Kerala Saw Medical History after Life Hanging by Thread for 14 Days Was Revived,” Manorama Online, September 27, 2020, https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2020/09/27/medical-history-life-hanging-by-thread-heart-transplant.html.

_MSM