Meet one of India’s richest doctors who once treated Mother Teresa, has net worth of Rs 9,800 crore

Dr Devi Prasad Shetty is an Indian cardiac surgeon who is the chairman and creator of Narayana Health. He was motivated to strive towards lowering the cost of healthcare in India by the doctor who served as a saint's personal physician. One of India's top medical minds, Dr. Devi Shetty is also a well-known cardiac surgeon, multibillionaire businessman, and philanthropist. Having first come in touch with Mother Teresa in 1984 when she suffered a heart attack, Dr Shetty was her personal physician for the last five years of her life.

“Mother was an inspiring force behind Narayana Hrudayalaya,” Dr Shetty once wrote in a column recollecting how she touched him and inspired him to make a difference in the life of the poor. In 2001, he established Narayana Hrudayalaya, which later evolved into Narayana Health, one of India's largest hospital networks with 47 medical facilities and a market capitalization of more than Rs 15,000 crore.

Shetty has made substantial contributions to the nation's healthcare throughout the course of a long and honourable career. Dr. Shetty, who was up in a village in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, knew as a young boy that he wanted to specialise in heart surgery after reading about the first heart transplant operation ever performed.

After completing his medical studies at the Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, he trained and practised as a cardiac surgeon in the UK and the USA, obtaining expertise in the most advanced healthcare systems before returning to India with his knowledge. He worked as a heart surgeon in the UK and the USA after completing his education, where he amassed significant professional experience.

Narayana Health, which has more than 7,000 beds across more than 30 hospitals in India, has won praise for offering cutting-edge, excellent healthcare at reasonable costs. Shetty led Narayana Health to a prosperous IPO in 2015. One of India's wealthiest women, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, also has stock in his business.

Dr. Shetty has received numerous honours, including the highest civilian awards given in India, the Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2012). He was named one of the "50 Most Influential People in Healthcare" by Time magazine. Dr. Shetty also contributed to the development of the Yeshasvini plan, a microinsurance programme in Karnataka. He is one of the wealthiest doctors in India with a net worth of approximately Rs 9,800 crore ($1.2 billion).