Bhagawan Koirala

Bhagawan Koirala (भगवान कोइराला) MD, FACC (July 24, 1960) is a Cardiothoracic surgeon, professor and Social worker. He led the team of Nepalese surgeons in Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre for  Open-heart surgery in Nepal. He is considered a good manager of the public hospitals.

Education and background
Dr Koirala completed his primary school from his hometown of Palpa. He, then completed “Certificate in General Medicine”, a degree equivalent to that of a Physician assistant, from Institute of Medicine in Kathmandu. His deep interest took him to Kharkiv, Ukraine, where he graduated from Kharkiv Medical Institute in 1989. He credits his teacher during the paramedic course for encouraging him to take career in medicine particularly in the field of cardiac surgery. He did his post-graduation in Cardiothoracic and surgery from National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Dhaka University in 1994. He also has valid USMLE certificate. He did a year of surgical residency at the Baystate Medical Center and later continued as a fellow in cardiac surgery in the same place. He then completed a year of fellowship (2000) in pediatric cardiac surgery from the Sick Children's Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada The Hospital for Sick Children of Toronto in 2000.

Career
Dr Koirala started his career at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. He was involved in the team which started the Open Heart surgery program at the Teaching Hospital in 1997. After returning from Canada, he led the newly established Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center as the Executive director from 2001 till 2009. He was an acting Executive Director of Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center MCVTC-Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center – Just another WordPress site. He also served as the Executive Director of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Professionally, he has been heading the department of cardiac surgery while at the heart hospital and later the department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Tribhuvan University. He has performed or directly supervised various kinds of congenital as well as adult heart surgeries between 2001 and 2020. Apart from being a surgeon, he is also considered a good manager of public hospitals. His contribution was also in making the expensive cardiac surgeries accessible to the general public by making the heart surgery free for children and elderly. He was awarded with numerous accolades for outstanding service and leadership.

Humanitarian projects
He is involved with numerous social and charitable organizations. His motto is: “no child in this country shall die of heart disease because of poverty”. He is currently the Chairman of Jayanti Memorial Trust, an organization that is dedicated to helping patients with heart diseases. He is also the chairman of Karuna Foundation Home, that is working on prevention, early detection and rehabilitation of disabilities across the Province 1 of Nepal. His next major undertaking is the Children's Hospital project, called Kathmandu Institute of Child Health (KIOCH) Kathmandu Institute of Child Health (KIOCH), that aims to establish a multispecialty children's hospital in Kathmandu and later in all provinces of Nepal.

Memberships
Koirala is the member of numerous medical and scientific organizations:-
 * Nepal Medical Association
 * Society of Surgeons in Nepal
 * Nepal Heart Foundation
 * Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center
 * Cardiac Society of Nepal
 * Jayanti Memorial Trust
 * Bangladesh Cardiac Society
 * America Nepal Medical Foundation
 * Heart Club Nepal
 * Heart to Heart Nepal
 * Indian Association of Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgeons
 * American College of Cardiology (FACC)

Pioneering open heart surgery in Nepal
The first open-heart surgery in Nepal was performed by the all-Nepalese team including Koirala at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) on 20 February 1997. This initiative gave a hope for treating heart diseases inside the country by establishing the first fully operational heart hospital, and also to ensure free service for the needy.

His social initiative came at the time when Nepal completely lacked resources to treat heart patients, and the rate of heart related diseases were increasing in the region. According to a National Report on NCDs and CVDs compiled by NHRC in 2010;

MCVTC, headed by Koirala, is famously known for providing medicines at lower prices than the suggested retail price. He also represents the team of Cardiovascular Surgery for Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology's Scientific Council (May 2011 to Feb 2013).

Honors
Koirala has been felicitated and recognized by various institutions over the years.
 * Sukirtimaya Rastradeep III, Government of Nepal 2019
 * Madan Bhandary National award 2017
 * GoGo Foundation award for good governance, Kathmandu 2016
 * Mrigendra-Samjhana Medical Trust Honor, 2012
 * Suprabal Jana Sewasree III, Government of Nepal, 2012
 * Excellence Achiever's Award, Youth Asia, 2012
 * Manager of the year, Management Association of Nepal, 2008
 * Hem Bahadur Malla Honor" for outstanding hospital services, Public Administration Association of Nepal, 2006
 * Science and Technology Talent Award Grade "A", RONAST, 2005
 * Dharma Pahari Medical Services award, NMA, 2003
 * Suprabal Gorkha Dakshinbahu IV, 2001
 * Birendra-Aisworya Medal for Outstanding Service, 2001
 * Best Paper Award, IV International Surgical conference of Surgeons in Nepal, 1998
 * Best Doctor Award, T.U. Teaching Hospital in 1996
 * Honors for Academic Performance in MD

Personal life
Koirala was born in Palpa, Nepal. He is married and resides in Kathmandu. Proficient in Nepali, English, Russian, Hindi and Bengali languages.