Dr Koul's sudden, untimely & tragic demise was a bolt from blue for all who loved and respected him. It produced such a void which is very difficult to fill in. A simple, honest man full of humanity, simplicity, love and helping nature was his basic character. These qualities are very hard to forget. Physically, he will not be among us, but his Aatma will be always a "Beacon light" for all who loved him. I personally can say that he was a good human being with noble soul and remember that. THAT NOBLE SOULS NEVER DIE. May peace be to his soul, and God may give strength, courage and vital will power to the family members to overcome this irreparable loss.
Nancy Wangoo
Relative,
I am Dr Thirion and I am Dr Gilbert's anesthesiologist. I am deeply sad to learn from the death of Dr Ashok Koul. We met twice in Bangalore and worked together with Dr Gilbert in the operating room taking care of small babies with obstetrical brachial palsy. I am very sad for his wife Asha who is such a smart and nice lady and also a brilliant anesthesiologist. I am also very sad for his daughters Parul and Aditi who came to my home in Paris to have diner with my children that have the same age. Please tell them that we are all deeply affected by their loss.
Dr Anne-Valérie THIRION, Basile, Juliette, Félix and Sylvain
Dr Anne-Valérie THIRION
Consultant Anesthesiologist, Paris, France.
For a young plastic surgeon like myself, Ashok Koul Sir was one of the biggest role models. During residency I had the privilege to attend numerous teaching programs by him and always left feeling inspired. He had this amazing ability to do things and find solutions out of the box, but always with sound reasons and logic. He was the judge when i presented a best paper in APSICON and i will always remember his encouraging words to me after my presentation. The field of plastic surgery is poorer for his loss. RIP Sir.
Aniketh Venkataram
Plastic Surgeon, Bangalore
With my limited interaction with him I found that he was extremely focussed , intelligent hard working, innovative surgeon .
His untimely demise is a huge loss to our fraternity.
Sugunakar Reddy
Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Yashoda hospital, Hyderabad
Dr Ashok Raj Koul (01-Sep-1962 to 20-Mar-2017)
We have been friends for years, since we first met in 1996 at NIMS, Hyderabad. I was a senior resident and he joined the dept as a Microvascular fellow; just after MCh at PGI, Chandigarh. His entry charged the working environment with his infectious smile, bound less energy and endless curiosity & enthusiasm. People around him could easily sense his innately friendly nature and quickly adapted to his signature style.
Though not tall in physical stature, his intellectual stature was very tall. Initially only few people could spot this, like Prof Reddy could. When Prof Mukund Reddy’s paper “Free Split Iliac-Bone Flap Transfer based on The Superior Gluteal Vessels” was selected as a poster at an international Microvascular conference, the job of making the poster was given to its co-author, Dr Ashok. A conventional vinyl poster was expected to be done by him.
But Ashok did an ‘unthinkable’ poster. He made a 3-D poster. He took 2-3 POP rolls and procured few red and blue colored lengths of electric wire, few small tins of paints, a wooden plank, and some nails, and sat in his room with all these items in front him. As we friends watched, working with wet strips of POP, he dexterously made a 3D model of hip bone, and he pinned this 3D model in anatomical position on a board. It was a spectacular model and was 99% akin to normal hipbone in all its detail. Then the Superior Gluteal vessels were marked by corresponding red & blue electric wires and were pinned to the bone flap. After allowing the model to dry, the ‘bone flap’ with its coursing vessels attached to it was ‘sawed out’ from the rest of the hipbone like in a surgical scenario. And this piece was made to stand-out from the rest of the 3D model with gaps on three sides with almost invisible copper wires. All structures were labelled. One look at the final model was enough to convey the whole procedure. Not one explanatory word was necessary. Needless to say, this won Prof Reddy the best poster with a special mention at the ceremony.
Wherever he went after NIMS, he made a name for himself. His bilateral upper arm re-implant was sensational in the media and public in those times, years ago. Recently, a Police Officer from Andhra who was a father of a child with OBPI, in search of 'best' treatment for his child, approached Prof. Alain Gilbert in Europe. The anxious father was assuaged by Prof Gilbert, and told him not to spend time and money in Europe but can get as good a treatment from Dr Ashok Koul in India itself. As I am from Andhra, this father came to me to get directions in consulting Dr Koul and thus, I came to know of Ashok’s raising name/fame internationally.
Another unique feature about him was his method of imparting training to his DNB students and juniors; by the time they finished their training, he made sure they were as capable as he was in surgery.
In the few weeks before his death Ashok tried his best to beat depression. He spoke to me about about his depression as with our discussions regularly on many other issues. In accordance with his style and manner of dealing with any issue that confronts him, he was clinical and very objective in dealing with it. He consulted psychiatrists, took medications and attended counselling. No precipitating factors or emotional issues could be isolated by the psychiatrists. And he continued taking medications like a good patient hoping for cure. But apparently it was not to be.
Ashok’s trademark solutions for difficult clinical puzzles, like salvaging a crushed limb or a finding a cover for a complex defect, are famously unique and ‘unthinkable’ for all others till he devised and revealed a plan.
Likewise his end was also ‘unthinkable’ to all of us. His troubled but ingenious mind took control of him and solved its problem in an ‘unthinkable’ way. This is evident in what his wife Dr Asha said, “his mind must have been on auto-pilot” in the last moments of his life.
Choking with emotions, I found him with a face of peaceful countenance on the plank that he was laid on for the last rites. May be he got what he wanted after all, in the end.
I miss a great friend. The family misses his warmth and love. He will be missed by friends, admirers and the society for years to come.
Dr Satish Kumar GS
Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Guntur
As a colleague , i was left amazed at what this man could conjure in his mind in terms of planning. But i was left stunned when he actually executed his plans to perfection. A person of few words, who let his action speak. He was always restless to move on in different directions. A personal loss to me. A far greater loss to many patients who could have benefited from this unique Master.
Dr Satish H V
I had known Dr. Ashok koul since many years. Even though he was senior to me he was very friendly always and shared a lots of jovial moments around the pool side during the conferences. Being a microsurgeon myself i had a lot of tips and tricks from his experience too. His death is a great loss to the plastic surgical community.
Ravindra Bharathi
Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Ganga Hospital,
He is and will always remain a role model for all of us. A happy go lucky person, always cracking jokes and making fun of the problems we face in life. He gave us strength to face problems and always stood like a solid wall.
Ms. Seema
Sister,
Ashok uncle was someone whom I admired a lot for his loving and caring nature. He was the one in our family to inspire everyone with his practical approach to life. He will be missed immensely by everyone in the family, which is difficult to express in words, leaving beautiful memories in all our hearts!
Tanveen
Relative,
"When I heard the demise of my senior, a dear friend, my colleague, my apartment mate; suddenly a lot of memories flashed through my mind and I was dumbstruck at the suddenness and it numbed my mind as well as my body for a very, very long time.
He was 6 months senior to me at PGI and later worked together at NIMS.I will be narrating the events as they comeby,need not be in chronological order.
The one quality I observed was his unwavering mind.He was cocksure of what he was or wanted to do.one day after work at NIMS came back to the apartment. We were bored. Suddenly he said let us play carroms.we didn't had any carrom-board then. He forced me, and we together went to sports shop near Koti on scooter, bought a carrom-board,coins and powder. Immediately took it by scooter, came to apartment and started playing. Before playing to get some 'Maja of thrill' out of the game, he wanted a small bet to be placed.I said I will not play for bet. But he convinced me without a bet there will be no interest in the game. It was true and I accepted it. I was a good carrom-board player. I played in competition's in medical college and hostel celebrations. But when it came to crucial points, I blundered.at those points he really played cool and level headed.that day we played for 2 to 3 hours. Obviously I lost and I took him for a treat to a restaurant.
We were both staying together in a apartment. One day he said Asha is coming along with Seema his cousin to Hyderabad and stay with us.so we thought of establishing a workable kitchen. The main thing was to have a gas stove and cylinder. To get a gas connection at Hyderabad is to take time. He told me, Bhanu get gasstove and cylinder from your house from Kurnool. I said it was difficult to get a full gas cylinder by bus. Gas cylinders are not allowed in buses. He coaxed me, somehow get it Bhanu. We will have homely food. So I had to bribe the bus driver and conductor, got it on to the bus, kept it near the engine and with difficulty and strain got it to the apartment. From then on we had Kashmiri and Punjabi dishes. Whenever feasible we had elaborate lunches and dinners. Asha saw that I ate well without shyness or hesitation.
When I was at PGI, every PG was posted with the faculty for 6 months on a rotation basis. Everybody was afraid to work with the boss Dr.Chari and usually tried our best to avoid posting under him for the fear of making mistakes which may prove costly in final exams. In the history of the department, as far as I know he was the only one to work under him for the whole 2 years. He was never afraid of his boss and he managed exceptionally well for 2 years without any adverse remarks. After passing his MCh course, one day during grand rounds boss went into toilets to inspect. He called Koul and said ""Koul the toilets are not well maintained, also there are flies and spider cobwebs in the ward"". He gave a fly swatter and asked Koul to swat a fly. Ordinary person would have followed the orders without batting an eyelid. But he stood his guard and said""sir,I came to learn Plastic Surgery and not swatting flies. Boss stared at him for a longtime, didn't say a word and turned around. The situation was tense and we thought that the boss would explode. Looking back it needs courage to answer and stand upto boss like that. All the staff and PGs were stunned and shocked for a few minutes. Once before a festival,he said ""Bhanu let us go and buy some clothes"". So we went on the scooter from Panjagutta to Ameerpet. We parked the scooter and he took me into Kumar's shop. I was really surprised.i said ""Ashok,these clothes are cheap, we will go for costly branded shirts."" He said ""these clothes if you wear for one year it is enough, we can discard then and buy new clothes. Why waste money on costly ones?"" So for 2000 rupees he took 3 pairs of clothes. He was for simplicity in life and kept everything simple. "
M. Bhanumurthy
Colleague,