Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty
About
Also known as the King Of Real Hearts, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty is one of foremost cardiac surgeons in the world & the Founder, Chairman and Executive Director of Narayana Health, a chain of 23 medical centers that offer high-quality, affordable healthcare.
The recipient of Padma Shri & the Padma Bhushan in the year 2004 & 2012 respectively, Devi has performed over 16,000 heart operations including India’s first neonatal cardiac surgery in 1992.
Dr. Devi has performed the first open-heart surgery in the world to close a hole in the heart using a microchip camera. He also conducted the first surgery in India using blood vessels of the stomach to bypass blocked arteries of the heart along with the first dynamic cardiomyoplasty operation in Asia. He was also the first to use the artificial heart in India.
Dr. Devi started his career in 1989 working at B.M. Birla Hospital in Kolkata and successfully performed the first neonatal heart surgery in the country on a 21-day-old baby.
In Kolkata, he operated on Mother Teresa following a heart attack and later served as her personal physician; this involvement had a profound impact on him, leading to his becoming her disciple.
Dr. Devi commissioned the Manipal Heart Foundation after moving to Bangalore. He established a hospital chain that includes the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata and Narayana Health City in Bangalore. Currently, Narayana Health Group of Hospitals manages 23 hospitals across 14 cities.
Dr. Devi and his team pioneered the concept of a ‘Health City’, a 2000-5000 bed conglomeration of multiple super-specialty hospitals within a single campus.
Dr. Devi was also involved in coining the term Micro Health Insurance, for which he spearheaded the launch of a health insurance programme for Karnataka farmers in collaboration with the State Government.
He was heralded as The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery by The Wall Street Journal, in a cover page article of Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek.
Harvard Business School and Wharton Business School created a case study while reviewing Narayana Health’s unique business model.
He is an active member of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery since 1996 & a chief patron of Indian Association of Clinical Cardiologists.
In 2001, Shetty founded Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH), a multi-specialty hospital in Bommasandra on the outskirts of Bangalore which is valued at a staggering $1.02 billion – approx Rs 7000 crores. They treat more than 2 lakh in-patients & around 15 lakh out-patients annually at half the cost, or no cost.
In 2003, he also designed the world’s cheapest comprehensive insurance scheme, Yeshasvini Cooperative Farmers Health Care Scheme, which provides cover to poor farmers across 805 surgical procedures for just Rs18 every month.
Dr. Devi stars in the fourth (and last) episode of Netflix's docuseries The Surgeon's Cut, which was released globally on 9 December 2020.
Awards and accomplishments
Awards and accomplishments
- “Karnataka Ratna award” in 2001
- “Rajyotsava award” in 2002
- “Dr. B C Roy award” under Eminent Medical Person category in 2003
- “Sir M. Visvesvaraya Memorial Award” in 2003
- Ernst & Young – “Entrepreneur of the Year – Startup” in 2003 and “Entrepreneur of the Year – Life Sciences” in 2012.
- “Padma Shri” for Medicine in 2004
- “Schwab Foundation`s award” in 2005
- “The Economist Innovation Awards” 2011 for lowering mass-based healthcare costs Honorary Degree
- “Padma Bhushan” for medicine in 2012
- “Indian Of The Year” by CNN-IBN for 2012
Why Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty?
With a career spanning about thirty four years, Devi Prasad Shetty has not only served as a surgeon but has made societal contributions through creative yet beneficial programmes for the underprivileged. Serving as Mother Teresa’s personal physician to carry out many of the nation’s first heart related surgeries, Dr. Shetty’s expertise and experience both have been remarkable. Introducing health care schemes for farmers and lowering cost for the procedures, Devi Prasad Shetty aims to commission hospitals & medical facilities across the breadth of this country, getting closer to patients & taking the promise of quality affordable healthcare to the doorstep of millions of people. With years of contribution and philanthropic activities, he truly is the King Of Real Hearts.
