Hridayasth

Dr. NITU MANDKE was a world renowned Heart Surgeon who was a pioneer in bringing Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (MICAS) to India and thus reducing cost of Heart Surgeries in India drastically. In a short span of 20 years Dr. Nitu Mandke completed over 12000 successful heart surgeries giving life an hope to thousands of families. Hailing from humble beginnings, Dr. Mandke showed his brilliance in sports, business and art from a very early age. After gaining higher education and experience from World's best Heart surgeons in UK and USA at the time, he returned in his homeland India to serve his countrymen and the Nation. He was instrumental in setting up many of the protocols in Hospitals that are still followed to this day. He was also responsible for establishing Cardiac Surgery teams in various hospitals across Maharashtra and Gujarat in India as well as Internationally in Nairobi, Kenya and Dubai, UAE. Dr. NITU MANDKE could operate on elderly as well as infants with equal ease and soon acquired the name 'Miracle Mandke' from relatives of his patients. He was especially kind to his patients and their relatives and he treated 1/3rd of his patients free of charge. He dreamed of building Asia's largest super-speciality heart hospital in Mumbai and had completed building the structure of his 18 storied hospital before his sudden and untimely demise in May of 2003 due to a massive heart attack. He was only 55 years of age. His life partner and Cardiac Anaesthetist, Dr. ALKA MANDKE, took charge soon after to settle his medical team in various hospitals in the country as well as seeing her beloved and magnanimous husband's dream hospital project to fruition. The hospital stands tall today in the form of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) and has been awarded as one of the best hospitals in the country. On his first death anniversary Dr. ALKA MANDKE published the original Marathi book "Hridayasth" to bring forth their story of love, romance, struggle and success. Subsequently, the book was translated and published in Gujarati, Hindi and English. The title Hridayasth, roughly translated, means somebody who lives in people's hearts. Over the past two decades this book has inspired thousands of people across the globe.