In a country grappling with cardiovascular disease striking Indians at younger ages and in numbers greater than ever before, the medical community’s core mission is clear – prevention, awareness, and reducing eventual mortality. Within this landscape, few professionals play as vital a role as cardiologists, and India is home to many talented, reputable specialists who bring years of experience and advanced diagnostic and treatment methods to the table. Whether you’re seeking preventive care, managing a pre-existing cardiac condition, or looking for a second opinion before a procedure, choosing the right cardiologist is essential to achieving the best possible health outcomes. Among these accomplished professionals is Dr. Sandeep Bansal, Director of VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, and a practicing cardiologist who, alongside his clinical work, has built an impressive academic record with around 80 publications in national and international journals. Honoring his years of dedicated experience, this feature among the country’s most renowned cardiologists is perhaps the most fitting tribute to Dr. Bansal.
A Small-Town Beginning, A Lifelong Calling
Dr. Sandeep Bansal’s story begins in Nangal, a modest town in Punjab better known as the site of the Bhakra Dam. His father, a chemical engineering graduate from Delhi College of Engineering, worked as an executive at the fertilizer factory tied to that facility. Raised in a well-regarded English-medium school alongside children of the dam and factory’s other employees, young Sandeep grew up in a fiercely competitive circle. Like most middle-class households of that era, the family held onto a familiar aspiration, one child destined for medicine, the other for engineering. With his father already an engineer and his sister uninterested in either path, the mantle of becoming a doctor fell naturally to Sandeep.
His pull toward cardiology, however, emerged almost by accident. While completing his internal medicine training at PGI Chandigarh after MBBS, a visiting gastroenterology trainee asked him to present a case of myocardial infarction during ward rounds, a task he handled poorly by his own admission. Pointed out and corrected on nearly every aspect of managing such patients, from mobilization protocols to diet and activity levels, he spent the following days immersed in the hospital library, exploring everything available on the subject. Those few days of research sparked what would become a lifelong devotion. As he puts it, genuine passion for a specialty is what allows a doctor to overlook missed meals and modest pay, a conviction that has guided him ever since.
Growing With the Institution
Entry into the central government medical cadre came through the UPSC, a demanding selection route that Dr. Bansal navigated successfully, joining directly at the rank equivalent of Associate Professor before steadily climbing the ranks. Those early years were marked by grueling hours in the Cath Lab, leaving home after a quick breakfast and not returning until 7:30 or 8:00 at night, often without a single meal in between, yet finding genuine contentment in the work.
By 2010, he had risen to the post of Head of the Department, inheriting a division with virtually no academic infrastructure, not even postgraduate courses. He began by launching DNB training, later introducing DM Cardiology, and gradually expanded seat capacity. By the close of his tenure, seats at the institution were being claimed within the top 20 all-India ranks during NEET super-specialty counseling, placing it ahead of established cardiology hubs.
A pivotal shift arrived roughly a year ago. Safdarjung Hospital had long been headed by a Medical Superintendent, until the government mandated that institutions of this scale be led instead by an Additional Secretary-rank Director. Dr. Bansal became its last Medical Superintendent and, subsequently, its first Director in nearly 83 years of existence. In this role, he introduced administrative reforms while continuing to advance both national health initiatives and his own specialty.
A Hospital That Never Says No
The sheer scale of challenges at Safdarjung, Dr. Bansal notes, is staggering by any measure. In 2024 alone, the hospital recorded 36.25 lakh (3.625 million) OPD visits, alongside another 8 to 9 lakh patients through emergency services. Its catchment stretches far beyond Delhi, drawing patients from as far as northern West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and even Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Compounding this is a Ministry-mandated non-refusal policy, under which no patient can be turned away regardless of capacity. The department of Medicine, he points out, routinely operates at 300–360% bed occupancy. Leading an institution of this magnitude has meant navigating an entirely different terrain altogether, coordinating with government officials and ministers, adhering to layers of protocol, and even hosting the President of India for the hospital’s convocation. “That,” he reflects, “has been a completely different kind of learning experience that comes with heading such an institution, yet one that has also brought continuous recognition for the hospital, including first prize in the Kayakalp program among all public hospitals in the country, ahead of institutions like AIIMS, PGIMER, and JIPMER.”
A Proud Legacy in Interventional Cardiology
When asked to reflect on the achievement he holds closest from a career built on complex interventions, Dr. Bansal points to a single moment on the international stage. His most defining contribution came at EuroPCR 2008, where he unveiled a technique he had personally developed to tackle the “no-reflow phenomenon”, a perplexing scenario in which a blocked coronary artery is successfully cleared, yet blood still fails to flow through it properly. “I proposed a simple technique to address this, and many practitioners across the country have since adopted it, and even today it continues to do a lot of good,” he says, counting himself among the earliest pioneers of the approach in India. Looking back, he calls it, without hesitation, one of the proudest moments of his career as an interventional cardiologist.
The Man Behind the Title
Beyond his responsibilities at Safdarjung, Dr. Bansal’s contributions extend well into the corridors of national health policy. He has been associated with the Drug Controller General of India, serving on the Cardio-Renal Expert Committee, which approves pharmaceutical products before they enter the Indian market, a role he has held for nearly two decades. His involvement extends further into bodies tasked with tracking adverse drug reactions; notably, amid the widespread speculation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, he was entrusted with monitoring their cardiac safety profile at a national level.
Away from these demanding responsibilities, Dr. Bansal keeps life grounded through simple pleasures – regular exercise, an occasional film, and, with the FIFA World Cup currently underway, an enthusiastic following of the tournament. Cricket, once a favorite pastime in his younger years, has taken a backseat over the past two decades, giving way to the rigors of a demanding career.
To conclude, when asked what he considers the single most important piece of wisdom for the cardiologists of tomorrow, Dr. Sandeep Bansal offered a powerful answer without a moment’s hesitation – place the patient above all else, in every decision, at every stage.
