The character arc of Devi Shetty
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 8 May 1953 at Kinnigoli, a village in Dakshina Kannada, the eighth of nine children. Between then and now sit a decision taken at school after hearing about the world first heart transplant, a medical degree in 1979 and a postgraduate qualification in Mangalore, a fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons and cardiothoracic training in London, a return to India in 1989, the first neonatal heart surgery performed in the country in 1992, a period as personal physician to Mother Teresa, a hospital founded outside Bangalore in 2001, over fifteen thousand operations, and two national honours. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Devi Shetty?
He heard about it at school. Then he made it affordable.
He was born at Kinnigoli, a village in Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, into a Tulu-speaking family, and he was the eighth of nine children. He decided to become a heart surgeon while still a school student, after hearing about Christiaan Barnard, the South African surgeon who had just performed the world first heart transplant. Children decide things like that all the time; almost none of them do it.
He was educated at St Aloysius High School in Mangalore, completed his medical degree in 1979 and a postgraduate qualification in general surgery at Kasturba Medical College, then took a fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in England and advanced cardiothoracic surgery training at Guy Hospital in London.
He returned to India in 1989 and worked at a hospital in Kolkata. In 1992 he performed the first neonatal heart surgery in the country, on a twenty one day old baby. In Kolkata he also operated on Mother Teresa after she had a heart attack, and afterwards served as her personal physician.
In 2001 he founded Narayana Hrudayalaya, a multi-specialty hospital at Bommasandra on the outskirts of Bangalore, and it is built on an argument rather than on charity. He believes the cost of healthcare can be cut by half if hospitals adopt economies of scale, and he has pursued that with an unsentimental attention to detail: cheaper surgical scrubs, cross ventilation instead of air conditioning. The result was coronary bypass surgery at a fraction of the American price, and half what it had been in India twenty years before. In 2009 the Wall Street Journal called him the Henry Ford of heart surgery, and in 2013 he set himself the target of getting the price down to eight hundred dollars.
Narayana Health is now a chain of twenty four medical centres in India, with further hospitals planned on the same model and an ambition to reach thirty thousand beds across India, Africa and the rest of Asia. In August 2012 he announced a joint venture for a chain of hospitals with an American health group, having already worked with it on a health care city in the Cayman Islands planned to hold two thousand beds. He also founded a cardiac institute in Kolkata. He has performed more than fifteen thousand heart operations himself, and received the Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2012 for his contribution to affordable healthcare.
The moments
Devi Shetty's timeline.
The 1950s
Eighth of nine children
Everyday. A village in Karnataka, and eight siblings.
The 1960s
He hears about the transplant
Milestone, and it changed everything. A schoolboy heard the news and decided his life.
The 1970s
A medical degree
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The degree, and then the surgery.
The 1980s
Guy Hospital, London
Milestone, and it changed everything. He went to London for the heart training.
He goes home
Milestone, and it changed everything. Trained in England, and back in Kolkata.
The 1990s
A twenty one day old baby
Milestone, and it changed everything. The first heart operation on a newborn in India.
Physician to Mother Teresa
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He operated on her, and then looked after her.
The 2000s
Operate, or build the system
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: build the hospital, taken, or keep operating. Twenty four hospitals, a bypass at half the price it had been, and a national honour citing affordable healthcare.
Narayana Hrudayalaya
Milestone, and it changed everything. His own hospital, at forty eight.
The Padma Shri
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The country noticed within three years.
Economies of scale
Milestone, and it changed everything. Cheaper scrubs and open windows, applied at scale.
The Henry Ford of heart surgery
Milestone, and it changed everything. Half the old price, and he wanted it lower.
The 2010s
A joint venture, and the Caymans
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The model, exported.
The Padma Bhushan
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The citation says affordable healthcare, not surgery.
Fifteen thousand operations
Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifteen thousand hearts, by his own hands.
The 2020s
Twenty four centres
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty four hospitals, and the plan is thirty thousand beds.
Twenty four hospitals run on the argument he started with, that the answer to expensive surgery is volume rather than charity. What he set moving is the unglamorous part of medicine, cheaper scrubs and open windows instead of air conditioning, applied until a bypass cost half what it used to.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His turned on a schoolboy hearing a news story and deciding, then, what he would do. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Devi Shetty: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Devi Shetty's character arc?
What is Narayana Health, founded by Devi Shetty?
How did Devi Shetty cut the cost of heart surgery?
How many operations has Devi Shetty performed?
Why did Devi Shetty become a heart surgeon?
What honours has Devi Shetty received?
Where does this timeline of Devi Shetty's life come from?
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Sources
- Devi Shetty, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- The Wall Street Journal description of 2009, as quoted there.
- The Padma Shri citation of 2004 and the Padma Bhushan of 2012.
- The published scale and cost figures of Narayana Health.