The demise of renowned surgeon Prof. H.S. Asopa, who was honored with the Dr. B.C. Roy National Award, occurred on Wednesday morning. Expressing deep sorrow over Dr. Asopa’s death, Dr. Vijay Kishor Bansal (social worker) said that this is a great loss to the medical field. We all offer our heartfelt condolences.
In Agra, the father of surgeons, Prof. H.S. Asopa, who pioneered the Asopa technique for the surgical correction of congenital deformities of the children’s urinary tract, passed away on Wednesday morning. He was 91 years old and had been unwell for a few days.
He had been heading the surgical department in Jhansi and was also the department chair at Asopa Hospital on Galana Road. Dr. HS. Asopa, the director of Asopa Hospital, completed his MBBS and MS from SN Medical College before joining as a medical teacher. Later, he served as the head of the surgery department at Jhansi Medical College.
He developed the Asopa technique for the surgery of hypospadias, a congenital deformity of the children’s urinary tract. This technique, considered the best surgical method for children suffering from hypospadias worldwide, has undergone several updates over time. Approximately one in every 300 children faces this issue.
Prof. H.S. Asopa received several awards, including the Dr. B.C. Roy National Award, and his Asopa technique was published in the International Journal of Surgery in June 1971. Dr. Sunil Sharma, the former president of the Association of Surgeons of Agra, described Prof. Asopa as the patriarch of surgeons. Whenever a surgeon faced a challenging case, Prof. Asopa would personally visit the hospital and perform the surgery himself, a fact he rarely disclosed.
His elder son Ravi Asopa resides in Australia, and his daughter Archana is in the United States. The final rites will take place on Thursday morning upon their arrival. Dr. Pankaj Nagayach, the secretary of IMA Agra, stated that this is a significant loss for the medical community, and doctors have expressed their grief.
Globally, the Asopa technique has been widely adopted by urologists, making urethral stricture surgery easy and safe. It is popularly known as ‘Dorsal Inlay Urethroplasty’ or ‘Asopa Technique’ among Reconstructive Urologists in Europe and America. Many universities worldwide recognize this technique as a leading method. In 2002, another operation discovered and published in ‘The American Journal of Surgery’ made bladder surgery for bladder cancer safe.
Dr. Asopa was invited to numerous national and international conferences. His lectures and films on complex operations are featured in international conferences and websites. He demonstrated these surgeries in more than 50 institutions and pre-conference workshops in India and abroad.
Dr. Asopa received several awards, memberships, and fellowships. In 1991, he was honored with the Colonel Pandalai Oration, the most prestigious award of the Association of Surgeons of India. In 1996, he was recognized as the ‘Eminent Medical Man’ by the then President, receiving the B.C. Roy National Award.
