The Spark in a Village Classroom
On 8 May 1953, in the tiny Mangalorean village of Kinnigoli, the eighth of nine children heard his teacher announce: “A doctor in South Africa has transplanted a human heart.” Twelve-year-old Devi Shetty decided then that he would become a heart surgeon. Grades swung wildly, but destiny did not. He graduated from Kasturba Medical College, trained at Guy’s Hospital London, and returned to India in 1989.
Kolkata, Mother Teresa, and the First Neonatal Bypass
At B.M. Birla Heart Research Centre, Dr. Shetty performed India’s first successful neonatal cardiac surgery on 21-day-old “Ronnie” in 1992. When Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack, he operated on her and became her personal physician. She told him: “You are doing God’s work—now do it for the poorest of the poor.” Those words became his life’s mission.
2001: Narayana Hrudayalaya is Born
With ₹1.5 crore from his father-in-law and a dream borrowed from Walmart’s economies-of-scale, Dr. Shetty opened a 200-bed heart hospital on Bangalore’s Bommasandra outskirts. Open-heart surgery that cost ₹4 lakh elsewhere was offered for ₹1.2 lakh—and ₹65,000 for BPL-card holders. Volume exploded: 16 % of all heart surgeries in India now happen under his roof.
The Yeshasvini Revolution
In 2003, Dr. Shetty convinced Karnataka to launch Yeshasvini—₹5 per month micro-insurance for 40 lakh farmers. A farmer could get a ₹2 lakh valve replacement for ₹10,000. The scheme still covers 4 million lives and became the blueprint for Ayushman Bharat.
2025 Milestones
- February: Laid foundation for 1,000-bed Narayana Health City, Kolkata.
- March: Told Business Today MindRush, “India will dissociate healthcare from affluence in 5–10 years.”
- August: Launched ₹1 crore cover for ₹10,000/year via Narayana Health Insurance.
- November: Acquired U.K.’s Practice Plus Group for $248 million—first overseas footprint.
- Digital Leap: Athma, his in-house platform built by 220 engineers, handles 20 million daily transactions and 10 million EMRs; AI chat connects specialists in seconds.
The Assembly-Line That Saves Lives
Surgeons operate in parallel theatres; nurses cross-train; reusable linen is sterilised 300 times; bulk-buying slashes stent costs by 70 %. Outcome: mortality rates match Mayo Clinic, yet cost is 1/20th. Wall Street Journal dubbed him “Henry Ford of heart surgery”; rural Karnataka calls him “Bypass-wale Baba.”
Honours & Wealth
Padma Shri (2004), Padma Bhushan (2012), Schwab Social Entrepreneur, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur (twice), Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from five universities. Forbes ranks him #1513 billionaire with $2.6 billion—75 % still family-held, every rupee ploughed back into subsidised beds.
The Next Decade
Dr. Shetty’s new war cry: indigenise every CT scanner, stent, and implant. “The depreciating rupee is killing us,” he warns. Partnerships with Indian start-ups are already building ₹2 crore MRI machines instead of ₹15 crore imports. By 2035, he predicts, an open-heart surgery will cost less than an iPhone.
One Line That Defines Him
“Every poor child in India should have the same right to healthcare as the President.” That promise, made beside Mother Teresa’s bedside, is now a 8,000-bed reality—and still expanding, one heartbeat at a time.
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