Navi Mumbai heart surgeon felicitated

Dr James Thomas, professor of cardiac surgery at the D Y Patil Hospital in Nerul and advisor to the armed forces, was recently conferred with the Giants International Award 2013 for his exemplary contribution in the field of medicine.

Achievement of a Lifetime: Dr James Thomas (in brown), professor of cardiac surgery at the D Y Patil Hospital, was conferred with the Giants International Award for medicine on September 17

The 64-year-old doctor, an ex-vice chancellor of D Y Patil University, has been performing heart surgeries for over three decades now. Speaking to MiD DAY after the felicitation, Dr Thomas said, "As a doctor I have never worked looking for any appreciation.

But when people from the outside world take notice of your work, it is surely motivating to work even harder thus attempting to make a positive contribution in the society as well," said the cardiac surgeon who is a Navi Mumbai resident.

In his 35-year-long career, Dr Thomas has performed around 12,000 heart surgeries besides working at many charitable hospitals as well. In fact he was the first doctor to perform an open-heart surgery in Nepal for which he was felicitated with a medal by the king of the country.

In 2011, Dr Thomas was applauded for performing a closed heart surgery on a four-month-old baby girl in Navi Mumbai, who was diagnosed with Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA).

"I may have performed heart surgeries on around 2,000 children, but this was the youngest patient brought to me and I was glad that things went smoothly," he said.

The award ceremony, which was held on September 17 at a plush hotel in South Mumbai, even saw actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being felicitated for her contribution to Indian cinema.

Giants International is an India-based international service organisation which endeavours to resolve some of the country's pressing problems by executing projects and programmes in the areas of saving the girl child, anti-corruption drives, family planning, water conservation, health, help to differently-abled, and other similar public spirited activities. u00a0