{"id":11811,"date":"2026-04-27T10:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sp.kalantri.co.in\/gmc73\/?post_type=classmate&p=11811"},"modified":"2026-05-02T14:20:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:50:31","slug":"vrajlal-patel","status":"publish","type":"classmate","link":"https:\/\/sp.kalantri.co.in\/gmc73\/classmate\/vrajlal-patel\/","title":{"rendered":"Vrajlal Patel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Keshod is a market town 37 km southwest of Junagadh, mid-Saurashtra, where the land flattens and the roads carry the steady traffic of an agricultural district. It is not a town that appears on lists of medical achievement. But for 40 years a surgeon from Vidarbha has been operating there, and the people of Keshod know his name: Vrajlal Patel.<\/p>\n\n\n

From Arni to Nagpur<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Vrajlal was born at his maternal uncle’s home \u2014 Supedi, a village on National Highway 8B in Rajkot district, on the banks of the Utavali River. He grew up in Yermal and Arni in Yavatmal district. His father was a farmer. He completed his schooling in Arni, then Manibai Gujarati High School, Amravati, then Amolakchand College, Yavatmal for his premed year. He entered Government Medical College, Nagpur in 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation he interned at Rural Health Training Centre, Saoner, alongside Ravi Kasat, Vijay Kherde, and Arun Deshmukh, then spent six months at Yavatmal district hospital. He enrolled in MS (General Surgery) at GMC Nagpur under Dr ML Gandhe, whose approach to surgery and to patients left a lasting mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dr Gandhe spoke to patients and obtained their history as if they were his relatives,” Vrajlal recalled. “He was a wonderful surgeon. We would marvel at his dexterity as he operated, describing graceful surgical arcs as his hands cut or stitched.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His thesis examined deep vein thrombosis in post-operative patients. He earned his MS in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forty Years in Gujarat<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

A year in government service at Umarkhed followed the MS, and then came the decision that defined his career. He moved to Keshod, set up a 12-bed surgery nursing home, and built his practice. He came as an outsider \u2014 a Vidarbha man in Saurashtra, with a name that Gujarati patients, as he noted with quiet amusement, occasionally still get wrong. The work spoke for itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He loves music \u2014 Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, the hits of the 1960s \u2014 and travel. His wife Smita has been beside him through all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both his children chose medicine and both made their way to Toronto. His daughter Suhani, after MBBS and an MD in Pharmacology from BJ Medical College Ahmedabad, is a research assistant at the Hospital for Sick Children. Her husband Bhavik is a paediatric intensivist and cardiologist at the same institution. His son Om, after DNB in Ophthalmology and fellowships in Paediatric Ophthalmology in Hubli and Toronto, runs Aksha Eye Hospital in Rajkot and works with SickKids Foundation. His daughter-in-law Bhoomi is an ophthalmologist with her own practice in Rajkot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The generations have scattered. The man who planted himself in Keshod stays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keshod is a market town 37 km southwest of Junagadh, mid-Saurashtra, where the land flattens and the roads carry the steady traffic of an agricultural district. It is not a town that appears on lists of medical achievement. But for 40 years a surgeon from Vidarbha has been operating there, and the people of Keshod … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-11811","classmate","type-classmate","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVrjlal Patel \u00b7 GMC Nagpur 1973 \u00b7 Batch C<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vrjlal Patel, Batch C, GMC Nagpur 1973. Surgeon based in Junagarh. 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