Healthcare

GLOBAL INVESTOR 2.12 — 27
Dr. Devi Shetty is a successful entrepreneur and healthcare innovator,
yet not too busy to do procedures in the OR, or to meet with patients.
Narayana Hrudayalaya provides 10% of all the heart operations in India.
As a young cardiologist in Kolkata, Dr. Devi Shetty treated Mother
Teresa. When he later moved to the state of Karnataka, in South
India, his father-in-law, a successful construction magnate, donated
money for a hospital. Its name – Narayana Hrudayalaya (“God’s compassionate
home”) – encapsulates Dr. Shetty’s vision: no person,
however poor, should be denied first-class treatment merely because
he or she cannot afford an operation. Today “NH,” in Bangalore, is a
franchise that includes hospitals in five other cities, making it the
largest provider of cardiac care in India. Close to 40% of operations
are performed on poor patients. NH’s low break-even costs (around
2,000 dollars) make it possible to apply surpluses from wealthier patients
to cover the costs of those who cannot pay. And because NH
does so many operations, quality is always improving.
Success has not dimmed Dr. Shetty’s devotion to medicine. He
still operates frequently and meets with patients. He wears blue scrubs
even in his office, a plastic cap tied around his head. On a day in
October he sits close to an elderly woman and explains her scans to
her, while a visiting journalist and a representative from McKinsey wait
their turn in another corner of the office.
“Respect.” Dr. Shetty uses the word twice in the space of a few
minutes after his patient – poor, barefoot and haggard-looking – has
left. “You have to respect the poor. They come to us after their heart
ailment has reached an advanced stage and their suffering has
become acute.” Rarely do they have insurance. Seven years ago,
Dr. Shetty launched an insurance scheme that now provides coverage
for over one million families in Karnataka at the cost of ten rupees per
person per month, or two dollars a year. Dr. Shetty uses the word
again: “You have to treat money with respect.”
Compassion and money are written in Dr. Shetty’s DNA. He was
born to a large family in India’s South Canara region, on the western
seaboard. His father died early of severe diabetes, leaving the nine
Shetty children in dire economic straits. But the Shettys hail from >
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