Devi Shetty facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Devi Prasad Shetty
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| Born | 8 May 1953 Kinnigoli, South Canara district, Madras State, (present-day Karnataka) India
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| Education | Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore (MBBS, MS) Royal college of Surgeons (FRCS) |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Known for | Founder & Chairman, Narayana Health |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Cardiothoracic surgery |
| Institutions | Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Guy's Hospital, London B.M. Birla Heart Research Centre, Kolkata Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru |
| Sub-specialties | Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgery |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan (2012) Schwab Foundation's (2005) Dr. B. C. Roy Award (2003) Rajyotsava award (2002) Karnataka Ratna (2001) |
Devi Prasad Shetty (born on May 8, 1953) is a famous Indian heart surgeon. He is the person who started and leads Narayana Health, a large group of 24 medical centers across India. Dr. Shetty has performed over 100,000 heart operations, which is a huge number! He is known for making healthcare affordable for many people. Because of his important work, the Government of India gave him two high awards: the Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2012.
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Early Life and Education
Devi Shetty grew up in a village called Kinnigoli in Karnataka, India. He was one of nine children. When he was a school student, he heard about Christiaan Barnard. Barnard was a surgeon from South Africa who had just done the world's first heart transplant. This amazing news inspired young Devi Shetty to become a heart surgeon himself.
He went to St. Aloysius School in Mangaluru. He finished his first medical degree (MBBS) in 1979. Then, he studied General Surgery at Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore. Later, he went to England and earned a special degree (FRCS) from the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Career Highlights
Dr. Shetty came back to India in 1989. He first worked at B.M. Birla Hospital in Kolkata. In 1992, he made history by performing India's first heart surgery on a newborn baby, Ronnie, who was just 21 days old. While in Kolkata, he also operated on Mother Teresa after she had a heart attack. He then became her personal doctor.
In 2001, Dr. Shetty started Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH). This is a big hospital in Bommasandra, near Bangalore, that treats many different health problems. He believes that healthcare costs can be cut in half in the future. This can happen if hospitals use the idea of "economies of scale." This means doing many procedures to make each one cheaper.
Dr. Shetty also started the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) in Kolkata. He has worked with different governments to build more hospitals. For example, he signed an agreement with the Karnataka Government to build a very large hospital near Bangalore International Airport. He also made a deal with the Government of Gujarat to set up a big hospital in Ahmedabad.
Making Healthcare Affordable
Dr. Shetty wants his hospitals to use "economies of scale." This helps them perform heart surgeries at a much lower cost than in places like the United States. In 2009, The Wall Street Journal newspaper called him "the Henry Ford of heart surgery." This is because he makes healthcare more efficient, like Henry Ford made cars.
His goal is to lower costs by doing things like buying cheaper medical clothes (scrubs). He also uses natural air flow instead of expensive air conditioning. These methods have helped reduce the price of coronary bypass surgery significantly. For example, the cost of this surgery is now much lower than it was 20 years ago. He hopes to make it even cheaper in the future.
In his hospitals, surgeons perform many more surgeries each day compared to hospitals in some other countries. His hospitals also provide a lot of free care, especially for children from poor families. People in cities sometimes call him "Henry Ford" because of his efficient approach. But in rural India, many call him "Bypasswale Baba." This means "the saint of bypass surgery," because he helps so many people get the heart surgery they need.
Dr. Shetty has also created ways to offer low-cost health tests. He was chosen to lead the COVID-19 task force in Karnataka.
Yeshasvini Health Plan
Yeshasvini is a special health insurance plan that Dr. Shetty helped create with the Government of Karnataka. It is a low-cost plan designed for poor farmers in the state. Currently, about 4 million people are covered by this helpful program.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Devi Shetty has received many important awards for his work:
- Karnataka Ratna Award in 2001
- Rajyotsava Award in 2002
- Dr. B. C. Roy Award in 2003
- Padma Shri Award for Medicine in 2004
- Schwab Foundation Award in 2005
- The Economist Innovation Award in Business Process in 2011
- Padma Bhushan Award for Medicine in 2012
- Entrepreneur of the Year at ET awards in 2012
- Indian Of The Year (Public Sector) by CNN-IBN in 2012
- Honorary degree from the University of Minnesota in 2011
- Honorary degree of ‘Doctor of Science’ from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2014
On Television
Dr. Shetty was featured in the fourth and final episode of a Netflix show called The Surgeon's Cut. This show was released around the world on December 9, 2020. The episode shows Dr. Shetty treating patients, many of whom are children and babies. It highlights how he and his team focus on providing affordable healthcare and perform more than thirty surgeries every day.
See Also
- Narayana Health
