Dr. Mathew Samuel Kalarickal, known as a Father of Angioplasty in India was born on 6th January 1948 at Kottayam in Kerala.
He did his Pre degree education in the UC College at Aluva, Kerala, MBBS from Government Medical College, Kottayam and Cardiology from Madras Medical College.
During his days as a resident in medicine, he was enamoured by the field of Interventional Cardiology and left his studies half way to go to do his training with Dr. Andreas Gruentzig who was the first person to do a Coronary Angioplasty in the world. He followed Dr. Gruentzig to Emory University in the United States, but his passion to spread the knowledge of Interventional Cardiology brought him back to India and with a great deal of difficulty and resistance from various quarters, he performed India’s first Coronary Angioplasty in 1986 at Breach Candy Hospital with the support of the late Dr. K.N. Dastur. No hospitals in Mumbai were willing to accept him as a consultant, but he got an opening with the Apollo Hospital in Chennai with the blessings of Dr. P.C. Reddy, Chairman of the Apollo Group.
There was no looking back from there and he was truly a pioneer in various fields / techniques of Interventional Cardiology.
He was the first Cardiologist to use the rotablator for debriding calcium, one of the first to use intra coronary stents and also had a hand in designing the Stack perfusion balloon which became a corner stone in the pre stent era of Interventional Cardiology.
He made it a mission to teach Interventional Cardiology to anyone who came in touch with him and he even went out of the way to proctor and teach Coronary Angioplasty in Pakistan, Bangladesh, South East Asia including the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries as also in various cities in India.
He was a master teacher during the BARD Interventional course of Cardiology way back in the 90’s.
He was the founder of the National PTCA Registry of India which started collecting data of the Angioplasties done all over India.
He was a President of the Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology.
He also served as the President of the Cardiological Society of India.
For his contribution to the field of Cardiology, he was awarded the Dr. B.C. Roy National award and was also conferred the prestigious Padmashree National Award in the year 2000.
He was an extremely humble and ethical person with a deep sense of service to humanity and the countless number of patients who still swear by him and his procedures are a testimony to his skills and temperament.
In the days before the advent of stents, he used to do procedures which no one else would dare to dream of doing it even today, saving lives of so many patients who were otherwise left to fend for themselves medically.
As a teacher he taught us not only the nuances of Interventional Cardiology, but also the ethics, etiquettes and sense of service for which we will forever remain indebted.
He was so dedicated to his work that he continued to serve people, even though he was not well and used to see and treat patients between his treatment and dialysis.
We as his students are highly privileged to have been associated with such a true gentleman and to have been born in a generation where we could be associated with Dr. Mathew Samuel Kalarickal.
We truly believe that there could be only one Dr. Mathew Samuel Kalarickal in our lifetime.
He left us for his heavenly abode on 18th April 2025 which also happened to be a Good Friday.
He is survived by his wife Bina, Son Sam, Daughter in Law Merin, Daughter Anna and Son in Law Tajar.
We truly believe that he has not left us but continue to be a guiding light for us to maintain his ethics and practice, service to humanity and carry on his legacy. May His Soul Rest in Eternal Peace.
