Dr. Sunil Prakash

At 61, this doctor beat Covid and returned to serve his patients Dr Sunil Prakash, 61, Doctor

In his nearly 40-year career as a nephrologist, Dr Sunil Prakash, 61, hasn’t seen a year as disruptive as 2020. This senior director and HOD of nephrology and renal transplantation at Delhi's BLK Super Speciality Hospital has been doing dialysis and organ transplants, but says the practice has become less personal due to the distancing.
"Medicine is becoming more virtual, test-based, and as a result, more expensive. Even the stethoscope will become extinct,"he says. But taking precautions himself didn't help and Prakash, his wife and son tested Covid positive in September. While his family quarantined at home, Prakash had to be hospitalised after developing pneumonia.
But just days after testing negative, he was back at work for his patients. And yet, the fear of catching it again persists. "I didn’t develop very high protective antibodies after the infection, and people who have been infected must go about with all precautions as before,"he says.

The most emotional moment this year was losing a diabetes patient whose organ transplant he had done last year. "He died due to Covid complications and I remember his daughter crying at the loss, because with the recipient's death the donor also dies metaphorically."
Prakash advises people to take Covid seriously but stresses that "it is not the end of life.” He also refuses to be called a hero. “I unquestionably enjoy my work, but I think I am just providing service,” he says.

Welcome to One of the Best Nephrologists in India Dr. Sunil Prakash

Dr Sunil Prakash is currently Diector and Head of Department of Nephrology and renal transplantation at BLK superspeciality hospital. He has done more than 900 renal transplants over last 25 years successfully.

He did his MBBS in 1982 and MD Medicine in 1986 from GSVM medical college, Kanpur .He was selected in the inaugural years’ batch of DM Nephrology in 1993 from All India Institute of medical sciences, New Delhi. His other scholastic pursuits included a Colombo Plan fellow ship to Tokyo Japan in 1990, International Society of Peritoneal dialysis fellowship from Toronto western hospital, Canada in 2000. He also trained at University of Columbia Missouri USA to earn International society of Nephrology fellowship in 2002. In India he was awarded FIACM and FISN in 2006.s

He was selected by UPSC and joined Northern Railway Central Hospital, New Delhi in October 1986. He established first fully functional Nephrology and Dialysis centre there. Being the first and only nephrologist on Indian Railways at that time, he was responsible for providing total renal care to lakhs of serving and retired railway men and their beneficiaries for two decades. He pioneered renal transplantation services and singlehandedly provided home dialysis to lakhs of kidney failure patients resulting in saving exchequer’s money by reducing all dialysis referrals to outside hospitals. For this he received General Manager’s award in 1996.

In May 2007 he joined Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon and established state of the art dialysis and transplant center. First legal kidney transplant in state of Haryana (sans Chandigarh) was carried out successfully in 2009. He was invited to establish transplant services at Dr BL Kapur memorial hospital, New Delhi in February 2012. There his team performed first medico legal brain dead cadaveric transplant which saved three lives. Today BLK performs most complicated transplants like ABO incompatible and highly HLA antigenic kidney transplants.

He has given more than 500 talks, radio programmes and TV shows to educate people on preventive aspects of diabetes, obesity, high BP and kidney diseases. He has mentored post graduate doctors for DNB medicine and nephrology degree over last 25 years. His students have been trailblazers nationally and internationally. He is a respected teacher and examiner for DNB Nephrology students.

He has published more than 40 research papers in national and international journals. He was awarded best paper award in International ESPEN conference at Glasgow USA in 2003 over slowing kidney disease. He presented his innovative surgical technique in inserting CAPD catheter at International society of peritoneal dialysis conference at Amsterdam in 2004. He developed his own simplified surgical technique of making life saving fistulas for dialysis patients which was presented in European Renal association annual congress in Madrid, Spain in 2017. He was the editor of first textbook for dialysis technicians in 2003 and was editor of DNS news letter from 2006 to 2012.

He has never forgotten his societal responsibilities. He is running a charitable trust after his grand mother namely Pushpawati Memorial Charitable Trust at Haridwar since 1992. The trust does not receive any external support and is run only by internal means to provide assistance to socially, financially and medically challenged people. In 2008 he formed Satyaraj kidney care foundation which disseminates knowledge about prevention of diseases. It also provides assistance to the needy. It celebrates world kidney day in March every year to disseminate knowledge about kidney disease and promote organ donation after death, in our society. One such event was graced by union ministers, MPs and other very eminent persons on March 8th 2016 at India Habitat Centre New Delhi. He always had the support of his wife Dr Smita Prakash a senior consultant anesthesiologist at Bhagwan Vardhman Medical college and Safderjung. Hospital,New Delhi who herself has a brilliant academic and professional record. His single minded professional aim is to reduce the disease burden of life style diseases, spread the importance of preventive nephrology and ethical cost effective transplant service in India.