--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Doctor Who Runs India's Last Polio Ward > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=21770c63-d91a-45b1-a0bb-e3ae428ae00a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  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"}}]}] ```