--- title: Dr. Mathew Varghese Runs India's Last Polio Ward description: Dr. Mathew Varghese runs India’s last polio ward, at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi. Since January 2011, India has seen zero new cases. canonical: https://time.com/5087375/meet-the-doctor-who-runs-indias-last-polio-ward/ author: Nate Hopper article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-04T11:07:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:44:28.379Z article:section: Health og:title: Dr. Mathew Varghese Runs India's Last Polio Ward og:description: Dr. Mathew Varghese runs India’s last polio ward, at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi. Since January 2011, India has seen zero new cases. og:url: https://time.com/5087375/meet-the-doctor-who-runs-indias-last-polio-ward/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfeedc2e75153efee/6988f65a929fadc56abef01d/optimist-issue-m-varghese.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: optimist-issue-M-Varghese og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dr. Mathew Varghese Runs India's Last Polio Ward twitter:description: Dr. Mathew Varghese runs India’s last polio ward, at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi. Since January 2011, India has seen zero new cases. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfeedc2e75153efee/6988f65a929fadc56abef01d/optimist-issue-m-varghese.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Doctor Who Runs India's Last Polio Ward  by [Nate Hopper](https://time.com/author/nate-hopper/)  ## Nate Hopper Jan 4, 2018 11:07 AM UTC  Mathew Varghese, an orthopedic surgeon, runs India’s last polio ward, at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi. Mathew Varghese, an orthopedic surgeon, runs India’s last polio ward, at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi.  by [Nate Hopper](https://time.com/author/nate-hopper/)  ## Nate Hopper Jan 4, 2018 11:07 AM UTC Decades ago, Dr. Mathew Varghese went from house to house in northern India to study victims of polio. He saw people who could only crawl. He learned to ask questions they didn’t teach in medical school: What is your social class? Are you able to attend school? His findings came with a lesson: “What you see in the hospital is only part of the story.” Today Varghese, an orthopedic surgeon, runs [India’s last polio ward](http://time.com/5068516/is-2018-the-year-for-polios-extinction/), at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi. In 1990, the city saw 3,000 new paralytic cases of polio; since January 2011, India has seen zero new cases, but for the victims, polio is forever. Doctors like Varghese are assisting with therapy, surgery and more. That work, he says, “is an absolutely humbling experience.” Varghese, 60, wants to heal more. He helped build an educational organization, now in all 29 states of India, that teaches medical students how to understand the social factors behind clinical care. “I am able to do this little bit,” Varghese says, praising his staff. “But there is so much potential out there that is not tapped.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5087375/meet-the-doctor-who-runs-indias-last-polio-ward/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5087375/meet-the-doctor-who-runs-indias-last-polio-ward/"},"headline":"Meet the Doctor Who Runs India's Last Polio Ward","datePublished":"2018-01-04T11:07:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:44:28.379Z","description":"St. Stephen's Hospital in New Delhi","url":"https://time.com/5087375/meet-the-doctor-who-runs-indias-last-polio-ward/","keywords":["Optimist","polio","optimism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfeedc2e75153efee/6988f65a929fadc56abef01d/optimist-issue-m-varghese.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nate Hopper","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nate-hopper/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfeedc2e75153efee/6988f65a929fadc56abef01d/optimist-issue-m-varghese.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"optimist-issue-M-Varghese","caption":"Mathew Varghese, an orthopedic surgeon, runs India’s last polio ward, at St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/optimist/","name":"Optimist"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5087375/meet-the-doctor-who-runs-indias-last-polio-ward/","name":"Meet the Doctor Who Runs India's Last Polio Ward"}}]}] ```