Hero of Our Times – Part I
Messiah with a head for business

(May 18, 2005 – The Indian Express)

Dr Devi Prasad Shetty of Bangalore’s famous Narayana Hrudayalaya has created a magnificent healthcare facility for both rich and poor

Subroto Bagchi

I had always wanted to meet a leader in the medical profession. Someone who is redefining it in the global context. Someone whose dedication and work has made him a leader among leaders. In Bangalore, it is not tough to find that man. He goes by the name Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty. Dr. Devi Shetty - the man behind Bangalore’s famous Narayana Hrudayalaya, was enticed to return to India to set up the Birla Heart Hospital in Calcutta. From there, he came to set up the heart unit at Bangalore’s Manipal Hospital. While setting it up, for months, Dr. Shetty used to live in the hospital - doing 3, 4, often 5, open heart procedures a day.

After Manipal Hospital, Dr. Devi Shetty set up the Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bangalore. The 500-bed heart and neurological hospital is among the best in the world. On an average day, they do 25 open heart surgeries. India has the largest number of children in the world. Within that remains hidden the fact that we also have the largest number of children with heart ailments in the world. At Dr. Shetty’s world-class hospital, one-month-old babies with cardiac condition are operated upon, irrespective of their paying capacity. Dr. Shetty is also credited with the 4,000 open heart surgeries and the revolutionary ‘micro-health’ scheme ‘Yeshasvini’ that covers thousands of farmers in Karnataka today - who for a mere Rs. 5 per month, can get a free cardiac surgery that would cost $100,000 in a US hospital. Dr. Shetty took on the governments of India and Pakistan when travel between the two countries had been suspended in the face of a nuclear stand-off. Baby Noor, a small girl in Pakistan needed immediate heart surgery. When Dr. Devi Shetty took the case to the press, the two governments relented. Baby Noor came to India, was successfully operated upon and went back to her land as the ambassador of love. Today, Dr. Devi Shetty is leading the charge to make India the healthcare destination of the world.

Behind Narayana Hrudayalaya’s impressive structure, a 5000-bed, Health city is coming up and one more is to follow that one. I wanted to stand in the shadow of Dr. Devi Shetty for a day to see leadership up-close. In the Information Technology sector, we talk about being 24*7 and sometimes, we use terms like ‘mission critical’. One has to stand next to a heart surgeon doing a procedure on a new born baby to truly understand what those terms mean. Hence the desire. On my arrival at the 250,000 square feet facility housing the legendary hospital beyond Bangalore’s Electronic City, I am received by Dr. Thimappa Hegde - who is setting up the neurological surgery unit. We have been long standing friends but we are meeting face to face for the very first time. He takes me to a small shrine in front of the hospital first. It is a set of four units. In one, a Hindu priest is offering a puja. In the next, a family of Christians is kneeling before the crucifix, in the next, a Muslim relative of a patient is facingthe Kaba and in the next, a Sikh family is praying in front of a portrait of Guru Nanak. The healing begins here. We step into the hospital foyer. I have never seen better dressed people at work - from doctors, to nurses, to the lift operators. I wish people in our business dressed up half as well. Incidentally, the lift operators are all women and Dr. Hegde tells me that 80% of the 1000 people who run the hospital are women.

On an average day, Narayana Hrudayalaya gets 3000 inbound calls. Yesterday, 3 have gone unanswered. A homegrown software detects that number and reports it every day. Dr. Devi Shetty tracks that.

In the case of the decade long hunt for Veerappan, there was an unusual level of increase in heart ailments among policemen. So much so that a Coronary Care Unit was set up in remote Chamarajnagar - on the fringes of Veerappan’s territory, Dr. Shetty and his team linked that unit through satellite and provided cardiac care to the area.

(Continued as hero of our times - Part II)