Kokilabhen Hospital, Mumbai

The hospital project was initiated in 1999 by Dr. Nitu Mandke as a large scale heart hospital. Dr. Nitu Mandke was born in 1948 in a middle class family. He was the first member in his family, to choose medicine as a profession with a determination to become a heart surgeon.

He joined B. J. Medical College, Pune from where he passed his M.B.B.S. in 1970, came to Mumbai for further studies and completed his Super Specialty course in Cardiovascular Surgery. He spent close to 8 years working with world renowned figures in Cardiac Surgery like Dr. Magdi Yacoub in England and Dr. Kirklin and Dr. Pacifico at the University of Alabama in the United States. He was an all rounder with exemplary proficiency in sports, arts, languages, mathematics and so on.

In his lifetime he won the hearts of many and repaired many more through unerring surgery. He won various social awards like ‘The Rajiv Gandhi Gold Medal of Merit’ 1992, ‘Indira Gandhi Sadbhavana Award’ 1999, ‘Outstanding Man Of The 20th Century’ 2000, ‘Pride of India’ 2001, ‘Sarvashri’ Gold Medal 2000 and ‘Maharashtra Gaurav Award; to name a few.

With great passion Dr. Mandke built a substantial portion of the hospital building. Sadly his dream was cut short by fate when he succumbed to a massive heart attack in May 2003; leaving a dream unfulfilled and unfinished.

The management of Mandke Foundation approached Reliance Group, who graciously took over this project and developed it into one of the most modern and state-of-the-art multi-specialty tertiary care hospitals; naming the institution as – Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital & Medical Research Institute.

In honour of the initiator, the hospital’s Medical Convention Centre has been aptly dedicated to the memory of Dr. Nitu Mandke..