Date of publication: 09.03.2005
Profile & Interview by Walter Nandalike

Prominent heart surgeon - Dr Devi Prasad Shetty is one of India's best cardiologists and has won millions of hearts for his dedication and devotion at giving new hopes of living with healthy hearts.

A pre-university student of St Aloysius Mangalore, Devi Prasad Shetty had his professional education and was trained in general surgery from the Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore (1982). He further had his training in Cardiac Surgery at the West Midlands Cardiothoracic Rotation programme. He later did his appointment at the Guy's Hospital London - Cardiothoracic Unit, between 1983 and 1989. In 1989, Dr Shetty and his team opened 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.

Dr Shetty's dream is to make cardiac surgery reasonable and affordable, by creating a chain of heart hospitals in every state in India, where more and more children are treated. A few years ago, Dr Shetty recalls, when the Blessed Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack Dr Shetty was put in charge of her heart care. One day, Mother, who at that point of time was convalescing in the intensive care unit of the hospital, saw Dr Shetty examining a blue baby. After a few minutes of thought she turned towards him and said; "Now I know why you are here. To relieve the agony of children with heart disease, God sent you to this world to fix it". Dr Shetty claims, this is the best definition ever given of a paediatric cardiac surgeon and perhaps the best compliment that he has ever received.

When you do your work without expecting anything in return, just for the joy of brining happiness to others, that's when you'll realize it is not your hands, which do the job, it is the hands of God, he states.

Dr Shetty wants to associate with people with love and compassion. 50 Year-old handsome looking Dr Shetty is a proud Mangalorean who is such a great personality in the medical field.

Education and Qualification:

• MBBS from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore
• MS (General Surgery) from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore
• Trained in Cardiac Surgery at West Midlands Cardio-Thoracic Rotation Program between Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry and East Birmingham Hospital, Birmingham followed by appointment at Cardio-Thoracic unit, Guys Hospital, London from 1983 to 1989
• Professor of International Health - University of Minnesota Medical School, USA
• Professor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka, Bangalore

Contribution to Cardiac surgery

In 1990, Dr. Shetty became the first surgeon in India to venture into Neonatal open heart surgery by performing open-heart surgery on a 9-day-old baby.

He performed Asia's first dynamic cardio-myoplasty operation to strengthen the weak heart muscle using the chest wall muscle.

• For the first time in India, he used a left ventricular assist device to temporarily support a failing heart.
• He is one of the few surgeons in the world to use a microchip camera to perform keyhole heart surgery.
• He has one of the largest experiences in the world in performing bypass-grafting operation on a beating heart.
• Dr. Shetty and his team made Narayana Hrudayalaya a post graduate training institute by conducting various training programs to train adult and paediatric cardiologists and surgeons along with cardiac anaesthetists and inten