Kandhari, Sachin

Dr Kandhari was an Indian neurosurgeon whose career centered on giving people with severe spinal cord injury and neurological disability a realistic path back toward movement, autonomy, and dignity. As senior neurosurgeon and managing director of the Institute of Brain and Spine (IBS Hospital) in New Delhi, he spent roughly two decades building clinical programs that combined microsurgery, functional neurosurgery, and neuromodulation with intensive rehabilitation. Colleagues and patients remembered him as both a technically ambitious surgeon and a compassionate clinician who refused to treat paralysis as a closed chapter.

Kandhari completed his MBBS at Jammu University in Jammu and Kashmir and his DNB training at Sir H.N. Foundation Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai. He received further training in endoscopic spine and brain stimulation surgery in Mumbai, and in functional neurosurgery, stereotactic surgery, Gamma Knife radiosurgery, and interventional neuroradiology at VIMHANS in New Delhi. Before leading IBS Hospital, he worked as a consultant neurosurgeon at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in New Delhi and held consultant posts at hospitals in Faridabad and Noida. He later served as a visiting consultant and medical adviser in neuromodulation at institutions in Bangkok, Tashkent, and Dushanbe, extending Indian clinical experience into regional partnerships.

At IBS Hospital he developed an advanced neuromodulation programme that became one of the centre's defining features. In 2017 he was associated with introducing epidural stimulation treatment for paraplegic patients in India, work that grew into one of the larger published clinical series of its kind from the country. Epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord was used to support recovery of sensorimotor and autonomic function after complete paralysis, including research on thoracic stimulation to facilitate respiratory function. He also helped introduce Finetech-Brindley sacral neuromodulation techniques aimed at bladder and bowel control after complete spinal cord injury, and led programmes in high cervical stimulation for patients in a persistent vegetative state and cortical stimulation for paralysis.

In November 2020 he spearheaded IBS Hospital's introduction of Cyberdyne's Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL), a brain-linked wearable robotic exoskeleton, marking an early deployment of cybernics treatment in South Asia. In interviews he explained that HAL detects weak bioelectrical signals on the skin and amplifies them to support voluntary movement, with potential benefit for stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, and related conditions. He argued that government and private sectors needed to scale such technologies so they were not limited to elite centres, and noted collaboration with the neuro department at AIIMS Delhi.

Kandhari's research and publications addressed epidural spinal stimulation after complete paralysis, transcutaneous spinal neuromodulation in cerebral palsy, outcomes in prolonged unconsciousness after head injury, and thrombolysis for ischemic stroke. He was a member of the Neurological Society of India, the Indian Medical Association, the Delhi Medical Council, and the European Association of Neurosurgeons. Awards cited in his professional profile included an Excellence Award from the Sultanate of Oman (2014), an Achiever Award (2016), recognition at the Swastha Hindustan Conclave (2017), the Bharat Shiromani Award (2019), and recognition for exemplary work from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

He was the son of Narinder Kandhari, a retired assistant executive engineer in Jammu's Public Health Engineering Department. He married Dr Neha Sharma Kandhari, daughter of Dr Khem Raj Sharma and Dr Champa Sharma of Sunderbani, Rajouri; they had a son, Yashvardhan Kandhari. Friends and colleagues in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir described him as humble and warm. Among patients linked to his care in public reporting was former Jammu and Kashmir minister Ali Mohammad Sagar.

Kandhari died in New Delhi on 27 September 2026 after a cardiac arrest. He was 50. IBS Hospital remembered him as a guiding force whose leadership and dedication would continue through the colleagues and patients he had served. Cremation was held at Lodhi Road Cremation Ground on 28 September 2026. He is survived by his parents, his wife, and his son.