Saroj Mandal
A Kolkata cardiologist at SSKM Hospital who has implanted thousands of pacemakers and set up a subsidised heart centre, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2026.
Saroj Mandal is a heart specialist who has spent more than two decades doing procedures on the hearts of patients in eastern India, many of them poor. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of medicine, from West Bengal [1].
Training
Mandal was born on 15 September 1967 [2]. He graduated in medicine from the University of Calcutta in 1993, took postgraduate degrees in paediatrics and medicine, and then a DM in cardiology at IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, Kolkata [2]. He worked as a registrar at CMC Vellore before joining SSKM as a clinical tutor in 2002 [2]. He is now professor and unit head of cardiology there [2].
Hearts by the thousand
Over 35 years, his citation says, he has seen more than six lakh outpatients and done or supervised 50,000 coronary angiograms, 15,000 angioplasties and 15,000 pacemaker implants [2]. It also credits him with a record of 22 pacemaker implants in a single day [2].
Care for the poor
In 2022 he founded the Krishnaya Institute of Cardiac and Fetal Sciences in Kolkata to offer subsidised heart care, and gives his own fees to its welfare trust [2]. He has held hundreds of free medical camps and led West Bengal’s tele-cardiology programme for heart attack patients in rural areas [2]. He also helped draft the state’s protocols for hypertension and type 2 diabetes [2].
He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the European Society of Cardiology [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2026: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2026 investiture ceremony brochure: citation for Saroj Mandal — Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Accessed 12 October 2026.
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