Dr Mathew Samuel Kalarickal, revered as the Father of Angioplasty in India and a towering figure in interventional cardiology, passed away, on Friday, April 18, at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai. He was 77. Dr Mathew is survived by his wife Bina Mathew, and children Anna and Sam Mathew.
A memorial service will be held at Marthoma Syrian Christian Church in Chetpet, Chennai, on Saturday, April 19, and the funeral will take place on Monday, April 21, at his residence in Manganam, Kottayam, followed by burial at St Peter's Mar Thoma Church Cemetery.
Born on January 6, 1948, in Kottayam of Kerala, Dr Mathew completed his education at Aluva UC College before earning his MBBS from Kottayam Medical College in 1974. He pursued his MD from Stanley Medical College and completed his DM in Cardiology from Madras Medical College. His early career included stints in Jakarta and Muscat before training in the United States under Dr Andreas Gruentzig, the global pioneer of coronary angioplasty.
He returned to India in the mid-1980s and made history by performing the country’s first coronary angioplasty in 1986. Over the next four decades, Dr Mathew performed more than 10,000 angioplasties and played a pivotal role in establishing interventional cardiology practices across India and beyond.
Dr Mathew also helped set up state-of-the-art catheterization labs at leading institutions including Apollo Hospitals, Lilavati, and Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. He was the founding convenor of the National Angioplasty Registry of India, working tirelessly to standardise cardiac procedures and promote innovation. Dr Mathew is also credited with introducing techniques like drug-eluting bio-absorbable stents and transcatheter valve implantation.
Among his many accolades, Dr Mathew received the prestigious Dr BC Roy Award in 1996 and was conferred the Padma Shri in 2000.