nprglobalhealth:India’s Philanthropist-Surgeon Delivers Cardiac Care Henry Ford-StyleHeart surgery i
nprglobalhealth:India’s Philanthropist-Surgeon Delivers Cardiac Care Henry Ford-StyleHeart surgery is a spectacle to behold. Even more so to see it on a mass scale, which is what happens at the Narayana Health, a state-of-the-art medical center in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.I am invited to scrub up and witness renowned surgeon Dr. Devi Shetty at work. The operating room is a symphony of all things medical: monitors beeping out a metronome-like rhythm, forceps and scissors clanging onto metal tables, a heart-lung machine gurgling as it does the work of the patient’s stopped heart, and, curiously, pop music drifting though the room.“Music is very soothing because the operation lasts six hours, eight hours, 10 hours. You need to create that environment,” says Dr. Shetty, founder and chairman of Narayana Health. (The hospital says its Sanskrit name means “the preserver of the universe,” which matches with the commitment to the health of everyone. Or it can be a strong hero with divine powers.)With Buddha-like calm, the pediatric cardiac specialist huddles over the spliced-open chest of 6-year-old Nitha Nisar. Peering into the cavity, I see a startlingly large heart, an affliction caused by a leaking heart valve, the team says.“Repairing the child’s heart valve, it requires a lot of expertise,” Shetty says, making the maneuvering of forceps look like a ballet. “It is done in very few centers across the world. And we have done thousands of them.”Shetty, who’s 61, insists that young surgeons at this teaching hospital attend painting classes to learn to treat instruments “like paint brushes.” It changes their “entire approach toward surgery changes,” he says. “Ultimately, we are all artists,” creating masterpieces.Continue reading.Photo: Dr. Devi Shetty meets with a patient. The surgeon, who says heart disease is on the rise in India, has never turned away a patient who had no money to pay. (Julie McCarthy/NPR) -- source link