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 Dr
Devi Prasad Shetty: City’s prominent heart surgeon
- actually one of India’s best. He was educated and
trained in general surgery from the Kasturba Medical
College, Mangalore (1982). He attained basic training
in Cardiac Surgery at the West Midlands Cardiothoracic
Rotation programme. This was followed by
his appointment at the Guy’s Hospital London - Cardiothoracic
Unit, between 1983 and 1989. In 1989 Dr Shetty and
his team set up a 140-bed hospital Research Institute
in Calcutta. In 1997 he and his team set up the
Manipal Heart Foundation - a 450-bed heart operation
facility. A recent addition to his list of accomplishments
is the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute
of Cardiac Sciences, a full-fledged cardiac hospital
built on 5 acres of land in Calcutta.
Some of his pioneering achievements include: -
- The first heart surgeon in India to venture into
neo-natal open-heart surgery
- Performed the first open-heart surgery in the world
to close a hole in the heart with the help of a microchip
camera
- Used an artificial heart for the first time in India
- Performed the first surgery in India using the blood
vessels of the stomach to bypass the blocked arteries
of the heart
- Performed Asia’s first dynamic cardiomyoplasty operation
Dr Shetty's another claim to fame is his effort in reducing
the cost of heart operations. The package pricing system
devised by him has made heart surgery affordable to the
common man. He is also responsible for introducing the
concept of assembly line heart surgery, which aims at
reducing the cost of surgery and achieving zero mortality.
But perhaps his greatest achievement has been his work
with children. He operates free for kids under twelve,
and of his 13000 operations in a 16 year career span,
over 5000 operations were on children.
We were extremely touched after visiting the ICICI-Manipal
Children’s Heart Wing, especially on seeing a 14
day old prepped for an operation the next day.
Dr Shetty will bring heaven and earth together
to spot a compassionate vein in people. He says, “If
I am given a choice I would like to treat only poor
patients. But unfortunately the economic reality does
not allow me to do that."
Dr Shetty’s personal mission
is to make cardiac surgery affordable by creating
a chain of heart hospitals in every state in India to
serve the working class.
“There are clever people and some people are cleverer
than me. I like to associate with people cleverer than
me” says Shetty. This says a lot about his competence
and strength of character. But the defining characteristic
of people he would like to associate with is “compassion”.
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