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Dr. Bharat Singh talks with Roy Boyd, a patient who chose to have his surgery at Hardin County Medical Center rather than at a larger facility in Memphis, where he lives, due largely to his relationship with Dr. Singh.

Cardiologist, Hardin Medical Center

In 1969, Bharat Singh, MD, was a medical student at the Medical College of Panjab University in Rhotak, Haryana, India with no definite plan on the type of medicine he would pursue. When his uncle suffered a heart attack, he was admitted to the same facility as Singh’s medical school. At that time, the treatment for a heart attack was for the patient to be admitted to a hospital where the doctors could “watch and wait.” Singh found that option unacceptable.

While his uncle spent six weeks in the hospital, Singh stayed with him 20 hours a day, taking only the remaining four to sleep. He also spent the time reading, studying and learning all he could about acute heart attacks and realized there had to be more that could be done. It was this experience and the desire to do more for cardiac patients that lead him to pursue cardiology.

“I was a resident in the best hospital in India, but when it came to treating cardiac patients, I knew there was a better way,” said Singh, who set his sights on furthering his education in the United States, which he says has the best medical education in the world. “My parents were not thrilled at the thought of my going to the United States and, although I wanted to come in 1975, it took me four more years and the promise I would only do a fellowship and residency in America to get them to let me come.”

Singh completed an internal medicine residency at Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1981, followed by a year as chief resident for the department of medicine there. He then completed a two-year cardiovascular diseases fellowship in adult cardiology at University Hospital, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark.

Instead of returning to India, as he had promised his parents, Singh went into private practice in New Jersey. “Being a solo practitioner cardiologist is a hard thing to do, and I worked at two different hospitals,” said Singh. “Not only was I seeing patients and performing clinical functions, I was also overseeing the administration of the practice. I was also clinical assistant professor of medicine in the cardiology division of the department of medicine at UMDNJ, chairman of the department of medicine at Christ Hospital in Jersey City and an attending physician at Jersey City Medical Center, a major teaching affiliate of Mount Sinai Medical School in New York.”

One evening in early 2009, Singh decided he wanted fewer administrative responsibilities and a greater focus on the clinical aspects of cardiology. He perused the job openings on the American College of Cardiology website and found one for a hospital in Tennessee that seemed a good fit. He submitted his resume to the recruiting firm in Atlanta that listed the position and, after four months of talking with the hospital personnel, he made a trip to Savannah, Tenn., in September 2009 to see Hardin Medical Center. He found it did offer just what he was looking for.



“I was impressed by the administration and the medical staff at Hardin Medical Center,” said Singh, now employed by the hospital. “It is a great place that has state of the art equipment and had a need for a cardiologist, lots of need. I was the first cardiologist they ever had.”

“We are so pleased to have Dr. Singh here in Savannah,” said Charlotte Burns, CEO of Hardin Medical Center. “His skills and reputation are impeccable, and we are very fortunate to have a physician of his caliber.”

“Things were slow for about the first month I was here,” said Singh, who has been in Savannah for six months. “But that did not last long. I have been so well received and I am busier than I expected.”

Singh has noted that his patient population in the South differs in many aspects from his New Jersey practice. “My average age patient here is in their mid-30s. In New Jersey it was the mid-50s. I also cannot take chest pain lightly here, even if the patient appears to be atypical,” Singh said. “It surprised me to see so many heart attacks at an early age. There is such a prevalence of preventive issues here, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, hypertension and obesity that I did not see in New Jersey. There is also tremendous family history of heart disease. It took me several weeks to fathom what I was seeing here.”

Singh sees a huge need in the community for education on heart health and preventive steps that can be taken to reduce the incidence of heart disease. “I hope to make a difference here, and think I can,” said Singh. “I miss my friends from New Jersey, but the medical staff at Hardin Medical Center has been so nice and I have been so well received here by the staff and patients, that I know it was the right move for me.”

“Dr. Singh’s decision to come to Hardin County answered our long-time desire for a cardiologist here on a full-time basis,” said Burns. “He is a person of intelligence and gentleness, with obvious respect for every individual. His patients have only good things to say about him, and our staff members admire him and trust his judgment.”

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