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Dr Mukesh Hariawala, Boston-based cardigan surgeon, hobby actor and senior-living entrepreneur speaks with Meda Parameswara Reddy, Los Angeles-based scientist and Innovator and Director of Reddy Center for Critical and Integrated Thinking | SAM Dialogues with Dr. M P Reddy
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00:07Welcome to my show, SAM Dialogues with Dr. MP Reddy. This is my fourth show in this
00:14series. Recently, I had a wonderful time with our Honorable Member of Parliament, Mr. Sujith
00:21Kumar. Based on that interview, very useful interview, I also wrote an article with the
00:29title, Where is India's Apple? And I published that in South Asia Monitor. Okay. Today, we have a
00:37wonderful guest. That is Dr. Mukesh Hariwala. He is a world-renowned cardiac surgeon. And
00:46welcome to my show, Dr. Hariwala. How are you? I'm fine. Very well. Thank you very much for
00:54inviting me on your prestigious global show. Thank you very much. It is my honor. Well,
01:02when I read about you, I talked to you also briefly. I see three in one in you. Okay. One,
01:11you are a
01:11doctor. So obviously, you make people feel better and feel happy, both. Okay. From health point of
01:21you and also mentally. And the other one I like in you is you are an entrepreneur. Okay. I am
01:29very
01:29fascinated by entrepreneurs all the time. They are like the movers and shakers of the world who take
01:36the world forward. They are people like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mukesh Ambani, and things like that. Okay.
01:43I'm always fascinated by what they do, how much they take the world forward. And the third one,
01:50which is exceptional in my case, he also acted in Bollywood movies, which is a rarity for a cardiac
01:57surgeon to act in movies. So I am talking to a person, I would say three in one. Okay. And
02:06before
02:07I go into any heavy questions about stuff, Dr. Hariwala, I want to dwell a little bit about your name.
02:14Okay. First one is obviously Mukesh Hariwala. Mukesh is a very well known name. It rings nothing but
02:22positive bells in anybody's mind. But Hariwala is something I am intrigued by it. If you don't mind,
02:30would you please take me back into your roots and your last name? Obviously, you did not pick your last
02:36name. Please tell us where that name came from. In that process, you can also go into the roots
02:42and tell us your upbringing and things like that fairly briefly. Thank you.
02:48Thank you, Dr. Reddy. Well, my background is absolutely rural. I come from a small village
02:58called Hariya, which is in the district of Valsad in Gujarat. So I was born over there in Hariya. Now,
03:10Hariya being the name of the village, my last name comes from that. So every resident who is born and
03:19lives over there, they all became Hariwala. And that's how I got my last name Hariwala. But I spent
03:28very brief time after my birth in Hariya and Valsad. My father worked for Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai.
03:37And so even before I was one year old, we moved to Mumbai. I did all my primary education at
03:45St.
03:45Michael's School in Mumbai. And subsequently, I went to medical school at TNMC, Nair Hospital in Bombay Central,
03:54Mumbai. So that is my initial upbringing.
03:59Wonderful. Thank you very much. It's a nice, concise summary. I love it. Well, you are a world-renowned
04:07cardiac surgeon, as I mentioned earlier. You operated on so many people, maybe hundreds of people. And
04:14some standouts are very famous celebrities, high profile people, three different prime ministers of
04:20India, including Mr. Manmohan Singh, and famous music director R.D. Barman. Okay. Obviously,
04:29we don't have time to talk about all of them. If you could pick one most memorable story that you
04:36can think
04:36of to share with our audience, that would be great.
04:42Well, thinking of all my patients, I think the foremost that comes to my mind is Dr. Manmohan Singh,
04:50Dr. Manmohan Singh, whom we operated around 1990 at the Harley Street Clinic in London, when I was working
04:58with world-famous surgeon Dr. John Wright. And Dr. Manmohan Singh, at that time, was not the prime
05:06minister. He was working in Geneva for the World Bank. Subsequent to that, he got appointed as an
05:14advisor to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. So, before surgery, actually, Dr. John Wright asked me,
05:24why are they, Mukesh, so many people outside in the waiting room with walkie-talkies and so much press?
05:32Who is this Sardar we are operating today? I said, well, he is a very famous Indian. He is the
05:41ex-governor of Reserve Bank of India. So, as we all know as Indians, his signature
05:48used to be on the Indian currency. So, I told Dr. John Wright, if you take a blank piece of
05:55paper
05:55and you take Dr. Manmohan Singh's signature on it, you can use it as currency in India.
06:02So, Dr. John Wright was very fascinated. But we would both go together for every patient
06:10before discharge from the hospital. And so, when we went to see Dr. Manmohan Singh, Dr. John Wright
06:17pointed to me and told Dr. Manmohan Singh, is Mukesh has done your operation. I just collect the money.
06:27And so, Dr. Manmohan Singh was very fascinated. On going back to India, he sent me a handwritten
06:35thank you card, which I have shared with you. And I found him, of all the patients, the most humble
06:44human being. Somebody whose heart beats for India and every Indian. I think history will treat Dr. Manmohan Singh
06:54very kindly.
06:57Very good. Such a nice narrative. Good anecdote. I love it. Well, let me move on to the recognition
07:06you got. That is, in 2012, you received India's Most Admired Surgeon. India's Most Admired Surgeon
07:15Award. There is a very high award. And also, I was reading, okay, in the literature and all,
07:23that you did open heart surgeries on a beating, or officially, or technically called fibrillating
07:30heart, as opposed to most of the surgeries where the heart is stopped, and then do, and then suggest
07:37to do the surgery. So, what is about? Can you please describe the challenges involved in that?
07:44Dr. Well, Dr. Reddy, to do open heart surgery, or coronary bypass surgery, there are,
07:51at that time, there were two techniques. Either you give cardioplegia, and you stop the heart.
07:58That is one technique. But in England, where I did all my primary training, we were not stopping the
08:06heart. We were fibrillating the heart. Fibrillation is, if the heart rate normally is around 82 or 90,
08:1390 minutes, we are taking the heart rate, coarse fibrillation, about 180 to 200.
08:25Wow. So, the heart is fully in front of you, in the operating field, you have to be a very
08:32fast surgeon.
08:34That is why, historically, you will find all British trained surgeons are always very fast surgeons,
08:42unlike American and the rest of the world. So, I was trained on beating heart surgery,
08:49and that is on a fibrillating heart. But that is done for coronary bypass surgery, for valve and other
08:54heart surgery. You typically give cardioplegia and stop the heart. Subsequent to that, there has been a lot
09:02of progress in heart surgery. And now, beating heart surgery has become the normal way of doing surgery.
09:12Wow, it is. Oh, okay. Okay. So, when it is beating at such a high rate, 180 or whatever,
09:20was it a little bit fascinating to see the heart muscles moving? Or was it a very stressful,
09:25nervous situation that you had to do the operation as quickly as you could with precision at the same time?
09:31Well, it is challenging. There is no doubt about it. But we were doing four bypass surgeries every day.
09:40So, if you think, and we were operating six days of the week. And therefore, after that, it became a
09:47routine.
09:47It was not unusual. It's only when it came to valve replacement or other heart surgery that we would have
09:54to stop the heart.
09:55But otherwise, we are operating always on a fibrillating heart. Okay. Yeah. It is good to know that detail.
10:01From first-hand person who did those surgeries and many people, including high-profile people.
10:08Now, let me take you into the research you did. Most of the surgeons, they do surgeries and they keep
10:16doing it again and again.
10:17But additionally, you happen to do some cutting-edge research, particularly when you were at Harvard
10:25University, in areas such as ventricular assist devices, and you call it VAD, and also in angiogenesis
10:35and stem cell therapies. Can you please tell for our audience, without going much into technical details,
10:43so that they can just get a broad appreciation, what kind of research does that entail?
10:51Well, let me speak about angiogenesis. But at the same time, I am offered a lot of credit for
11:01angiogenesis in textbooks, in journals and all. But I believe in giving credit to the person who actually
11:11originated the concept of angiogenesis. So, please give me one minute to give credit to that surgeon.
11:18Please. Go ahead. Now, that surgeon is Dr. P. K. Sen in K. M. Hospital in India, in Mumbai, in
11:26the 1950s.
11:28Wow. He was the first person, but he didn't call it angiogenesis. What he was doing is, he was poking
11:36holes in the heart
11:38and hoping for blood to flow across the heart and revascularize the heart. But it was that time called
11:46snake operation. Fast forward 50 to 60 years, when I started work on angiogenesis, even the first paper I
11:54wrote, the first reference that I did was for Dr. P. K. Sen. So, I acknowledged his great contribution.
12:04But what I did differently, and I had, unlike India, I had millions of dollars of grant where I could
12:12experiment real big time research. This was done at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where I was a fellow.
12:20And I was recruited specifically for the job because I was trained in beating heart surgery,
12:27very fast surgery. Because this model that we were created required someone who can operate on a very
12:34fast beating heart. So, my boss, Dr. James Sainz, hired me to do that job. And fortunately, I gave 100
12:43%
12:44results. That was the first concept of angiogenesis. Now, what is angiogenesis for the benefit of your,
12:53not surgical audience, but common man audience? Angiogenesis, in simple terms, is growth of new
13:00blood vessels where they don't exist. It is like finding a fountain in a desert and you get water.
13:11Now, if you go to see physiologically, the heart is in need of blood all the time as its source
13:18of oxygen.
13:19But when that is lacking, people get heart attack because of lack of blood vessels and oxygen. And we
13:26do bypass surgery or a cardiologist will do angioplasty and stent. What angiogenesis does is injection of
13:34external growth factors. It is like pulling the trigger and opening up a fountain of blood in the
13:42heart. And therefore, I would nickname it bypass to bypass surgery. And many surgeons, when I was
13:50speaking about this all over the world, would jokingly come and tell me, Mukesh, you're doing great work,
13:57go slow, because we are not retired yet. Because my kind of research was going to take away the work
14:05of all surgeons and cardiologists. So, I would jokingly tell them, I will now double speed my work.
14:13And that is what is angiogenesis, is to grow new blood vessels on the heart where it is lacking.
14:22Subsequent to that, I also innovated stem cells, taking stem cells out of the hip bone of a patient
14:30during bypass surgery. So, we are putting internal mammary artery on the heart. We are stimulating it by
14:38laser. So, angiogenesis is happening. And we are also injecting stem cells in the heart. What that is
14:46doing, it is leading to 100% revascularization of the heart. Now, patient is not going to require
14:53surgery for another 25 to 30 years. Yes. So, you are attacking from two different angles,
15:00right, in a very symbiotic, right, or complementary manner, right? Yes. Oh, that is a great concept.
15:07That is very good. Now, let us switch gears, okay, and go into slightly different area. In 2017,
15:16you got Indian Healthcare Visionary of the Decade Award. You spoke eloquently, I understand,
15:24through a seminar or presentations about tourism economics and things like that, okay. That is
15:30somewhat different from the heart surgery you eloquently described and also some research on
15:36angiogenesis. That is all wonderful. This is slightly different area. And also, I want to mention,
15:42that will make you happy, because when you got that award, other people who also got awards during
15:49that same time are Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani. So, please tell us, what was that about tourism economics
15:58that you impressed people so much? And please try to impress us.
16:04Well, at that time, the American president was President Barack Obama. At that time,
16:13he was introducing a new policy called Obamacare. Now, what Obamacare as a policy in America was doing,
16:22it was going to cover every American 100% with health insurance, which is lacking at the moment,
16:30at the time of Donald Trump's era. But at that time, Obamacare was going to provide that coverage.
16:38Now, having done MBA with international healthcare as my speciality, there are different healthcare systems all
16:46over the world. For example, in America, it is a capitalistic system, where you take health insurance
16:55and you get coverage. In England, which is NHS, national health system, it is socialized medicine,
17:02where the government takes care of coverage for all the citizens. In Canada, it is the same,
17:09the Canadian healthcare system. What Obamacare was going to do, it was going to try and adopt
17:16a socialized medicine system. But the fallout of that was going to be, hospitals were going to become
17:23full. And there would the waiting list for procedures or surgery was going to increase.
17:31Yes, I saw that. And I said, this is an opportunity for me to throw shed some light into this,
17:38because
17:39it could increase medical tourism outside America. And of course, I thought of India as the primary
17:47destination. I did the calculations and the projected volume of outflow of capital from America to India
17:57would amount to $100 billion. That would give massive doctors and hospitals business in India. And I got
18:06the visionary award for putting that thesis into place. Okay, good, good. And that is a very creative
18:14concept, obviously, right, taking advantage of the situation, right? Yes, that would benefit India
18:20in terms of the business, employment and things like that. Okay, that sounds very good. And let me
18:27ask you as an extension of the technology developments we talked about, we have been hearing a lot about
18:34robotic surgery for various surgical procedures. Okay. And also recently, artificial intelligence AI
18:42is taking inroads in many, many areas, including in the field of medicine. Please tell us, tell us, what is
18:50your
18:50understanding, where the robotic surgery is, and with particularly use of AI, not only in
18:58cardiology, in the medical field in general, and where is it heading? Again, briefly, please.
19:06Dr. Reddy, for the benefit of our audience, they need to understand artificial intelligence as to where
19:14it is now, and where it is going into the future. Then only they will understand the implications of it,
19:22and I will stay focused on to the medical field. So, as of now, there is artificial intelligence, where you
19:30type a question and AI will give you the reply. So, it is an extension of a Google search, but
19:39in a
19:39better refined way, but coming up with mild solutions. This in the next four years or so, according to
19:50ChatGPT CEO and founder Sam Altman, that is going to get better. It is going to take a new shape,
19:58is artificial general intelligence. So, AI will change to AGI. What AGI will do, artificial intelligence
20:10will start coming on par in terms of intelligence and capabilities as much as a human being's
20:17intelligence. Now, this is what is going to create the competitor and conflicting atmosphere all over the
20:26world. People have predicted there will be job losses and all of that. Now, what is this going to do
20:34to
20:34the medical profession? For example, a surgeon, just for purposes of discussion. So far, surgeons were
20:41operating on the heart. But now, with robotic surgery and the induction of artificial intelligence,
20:49robots are going to start operating. My suggestion to doctors is, don't confront artificial intelligence,
20:58don't fight artificial intelligence, but embrace it with two hands. But you become the master. So,
21:06if the robot is doing the surgery, the surgeon should sit in the control and give the clinical guidance and
21:14what the AI must do. So, in fact, make AI your co-pilot. But don't let AI be the autopilot.
21:25Yes.
21:26That is the way every surgeon and every doctor's job will be conserved because you are going to control AI.
21:35Now, six to seven years from now, again, according to Sam Altman, there is going to be a true conflict
21:44that is going to happen. That is going to be called super intelligence, super artificial intelligence.
21:52This is going to come a stage where the AI is going to cross the capabilities of human beings.
22:00And that is where human beings will start becoming inferior. But my suggestion to doctors is, keep up
22:08with speed with all what is happening and you stay one step ahead of artificial intelligence. That will
22:17conserve your job and your career. The same application for whether it is banking or even other industries.
22:25I completely agree with you. When the computers came about 30 years or so, there are same doom and
22:33gloom kind of thinking. And finally, we all got benefited. And I completely agree with you. Even with the AI,
22:41very likely that is going to happen. So, basically, you were suggesting surgeons using their own knowledge
22:47and skill and skill and effectively utilize robotics. At the same time, effectively use AI. So, you use them
22:55rather than them using you. At the end of the day... Yes. Make them the co-pilot. Don't make them
23:02the pilot.
23:03Exactly. Make AI the co-pilot. Exactly. And never, never let it go into autopilot mode. Because if it goes
23:12into autopilot,
23:13the complete clinical relevance for the patient and the well-being of the patient will get compromised.
23:20At the end, surgeons will be winners, which means people. At the end of the day, people are the
23:26ultimate beneficiaries. I agree with you completely. Now, let me move on to very specific, different thing,
23:33which is your favorite project, actually. What you call EVAM Senior Living Platform in India. And as a part of
23:44that, you coined the term, womb to tomb concept. Yes. So, obviously, through in the terms, and our viewers were
23:53wondering, are definitely wondering, what is this EVAM about? What is this womb to tomb? That is why you are
24:00here to clarify fairly briefly. But yeah, please go ahead. Yes. So, at this stage of my career,
24:09I am reaching a stage of peri-retirement. In peri-retirement, I wanted to have a second innings.
24:17But I wanted the second innings to be better than my first innings. And therefore,
24:24I wanted to utilize my MBA knowledge to do something whereby the benefit can go to India
24:34and the people of India. So, like a typical researcher, I wanted to find out what are the gaps
24:42in society? How is society changing in India? What are the going to be the future needs of the people?
24:51Yes. So, what I found out is that people are living longer. At the moment, in 2026,
25:01the senior population in India, that is the elders, is 166.9 million, as quoted by so many research groups,
25:12including ASLI, which is Association of Surgeon Senior Living in India. But what I did, the foresight
25:22calculation is by 2050, that number is going to grow exponentially to 346 million. Now, the current housing
25:32for seniors in India is only 25,000. That is going to lead a big gap. Also, one of the
25:42research that I did is that by 2050,
25:46the life expectancy of India is going to grow from 72 now to 76 or even 78. Also, females are
25:59going to be living,
26:00the spouse is going to be living longer than their male partners. So, my vision was to try and address
26:08all these future needs of the Indian market and our people in India. That is where I formed a company
26:18called EVAM senior living. Now, this concept was to build senior living facilities in India. It required
26:28acquisition of land, building structures, facilities, but it was also going to be a very high-tech place.
26:36So, the residents of the place, for example, will wear shoes that if they wear, if they lose balance,
26:44they will get a trigger to get alert. So, that is going to prevent falls for seniors. Also, they will
26:53be wearing wearable devices which is connected to their entire family all over the world. So, if their
27:01heart rate increases or their blood pressure falls or anything happens while they are living in an EVAM
27:08community, the trigger through WhatsApp goes to all their relatives who are in their circle. Also, very
27:17high-end security, customized dietary food and also every person is taken care of in a very compassionate
27:29way. You know, extend to them the love and affection because now they are staying here. This is going to
27:36be a big attraction for NRIs, HNIs and even upper middle class Indians because NRIs are staying abroad.
27:46Parents may be in India or parents, even if abroad, they like to retire and spend the last
27:53years of their life in India. So, they can monitor their parents very well. So, I believe this concept,
28:04which is an American concept of senior living, I want to take it to India and I want to provide
28:10senior living facilities in India which will be of global and American standards.
28:18That sounds good. It looks like a great concept. So, it looks like you are very upbeat on what I
28:24am
28:24hearing from you about this concept. So, you already started a company and you are working on that
28:31and getting the funding and financing and things like that. Is that true?
28:36Well, this is a very expensive project. So, I have broken up the project into two phases. Phase one is
28:46three metros to begin with Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Not within the city but in the outskirts of the city.
28:56The reason for that is land availability. But I want to keep the community 60% green because seniors for
29:09longevity of life and quality of life, they must be surrounded by greenery. They must live in a noise-free,
29:16pollution-free, pollution-free atmosphere. After the first phase, I plan to extend it to 15 more
29:26metros across India. Now, this is a very high capital project. So, in my calculations, the initial project
29:36is going to be somewhere around $425 million, which is about 4,000 Indian crores. The capital input or the
29:49anchoring of this capital will come from institutional capital or sovereign wealth fund or retirement funds
29:56and others. After the first phase, as we move into expansion of the project into phase two,
30:04being an American company and also we are going to have an SPV, which is a special purpose vehicle
30:11in India, we can offer public participation in the project in terms of allocation of shares and making
30:21investment opportunity for at a retail level. So, we can offer a double IPO, American and Indian both.
30:30Speaking of funding, I have a curiosity question to put you on the spot. If any of these
30:41people with deep pockets come to you, whether it is Elon Musk or Mukesh Ambani, one is an Indian,
30:50one is an American. If both of them approach you and say that we want to invest in your company,
30:57okay, but on an exclusive basis, that means only you can choose one of them, not both,
31:04which one would you choose? Elon Musk or Mukesh Ambani?
31:10Well, I would choose Mukesh Ambani in this particular situation. Simply,
31:17the reason is Mukesh Ambani will identify with our Indian culture. For example, I propose to have a
31:27temple in a temple in all the communities, correct, in the campus itself. Mukesh Ambani will identify the need and
31:37the emotional attachment of Indian people with a temple. Mr. Elon Musk, with all respect to him as a fellow
31:44American, will not identify it. He may probably discuss that I think this is a wasted expense. Whereas Mukesh Ambani
31:53will identify with it. Other thing, Mukesh Ambani,
31:57knows the culture knows the culture of our people. So, I plan that there should be celebrations of all festivals,
32:05whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, everything within the community. Mr. Elon Musk will not, I think, understand that
32:15or he may find difficulty comprehending with it. Mukesh Ambani will be much more cooperative.
32:22By the way, I pretty much expected that answer. Okay. I was wondering whether he will fall for Elon Musk
32:29because he is a trillionaire. Okay. Definitely a step richer than Mukesh Ambani. So, I like your answer. That is
32:38exactly what I expected also. Okay. Thank you.
32:40So, moving on. I'm sorry. We're a little bit short on time here. Okay. You were telling me whenever we
32:47talk that there is a new announcement that is going to come that you are chosen as one of the
32:54top 20 iconic CEOs of Indian origin.
33:00That is an unbelievable situation. That is an unbelievable situation. That means you will be in the company of Satya
33:07Nadella, of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai, of Google. Wow. What an illustrious group of people. So, I'm going by what you
33:16told me on that. So, what is that about? Could you tell very briefly?
33:21Well, if you look at the list? Well, if you look at the list, I have reviewed the list. And
33:25of course, there are illustrious people of Indian origin, and some of them are known to me.
33:32I find that 19 of them are all in the technology world. Correct? Whether it is a Google or a
33:41Microsoft or any of these companies, they are all billion or maybe even trillion dollar companies.
33:47Even senior living is unique amongst them. Because my company or our company is a true brick and mortar company.
33:59It is acquisition of land, building of complexes, and real people living in it. And you can actually touch and
34:08feel it.
34:09Ours is not a cloud or a download or an upload company.
34:15Yes, it is a very different, old-fashioned company, but using the most modern technologies.
34:23So, I believe I am uniquely placed in that there is recognition of old-fashioned business still in the technologically
34:34advanced world.
34:35And I definitely acknowledge all the other CEOs. And I feel distinctly honoured to be part of that list.
34:44Thank you very much. We just have only a couple of minutes left.
34:48There is one favourite segment I like about, which I call Ready Rapid Fire. There, I will ask you questions.
34:56Please take a few seconds to answer this question. That's all the time we have.
35:00You work with so many surgeons, okay, in the UK, USA, etc., etc. Tell me, who is your most favourite
35:09or role model surgeon?
35:11Please tell the name and a couple of seconds about that person.
35:15Okay. I have worked virtually globally with all the top surgeons in the world.
35:22But I am going to choose an Indian surgeon as my role model.
35:27And that name is Dr. Neetu Manke.
35:31He was my first cardiac surgery boss at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.
35:36He one day gave me the heart in the hand during surgery and he told me in simple languages,
35:44Mukesh, I like the way you hold the heart. You should become a cardiac surgeon.
35:50And he was my first cardiac surgery boss and also my role model in cardiac surgery
35:56because I believe he was a true versatile surgeon.
36:01He could operate on a newborn baby and he could operate on an 80-year-old man too.
36:07And the entire gamut of surgery he could do.
36:10So, which is very rare in cardiac surgeons.
36:13I am an adult cardiac surgery. I cannot operate on babies.
36:17But Dr. Manke was a true role model and a versatile surgeon and a superb human being.
36:25Unfortunately, he is not in the world anymore.
36:29But when he fell ill with a heart attack, I from America was in constant touch trying to stave his
36:37heart and his life.
36:38Thank you very much. So, we have a very short time left.
36:42You have been in USA and India.
36:46Which one is close to your heart?
36:48Just pick one country, that's it.
36:51Well, I live in USA, but my heart beats for India.
36:55Okay. Thank you very much.
36:57And then, okay, what is your most single proud moment in your life?
37:04Few seconds.
37:07Proud moment on, I think, graduation as a doctor.
37:12Wonderful.
37:13What was the most regrettable moment in your life?
37:17Biggest regret?
37:20I could have been a better student in my earlier career.
37:26Okay.
37:27Well, Dr. Hariwala, there is one more question I want to ask you.
37:31Probably the most important question.
37:33Okay.
37:33So, that is, if the Prime Minister of India asks you, based on your expertise, etc., in medical field as
37:43well as financial field,
37:44to join his cabinet as a health minister, what is one single thing you want to do as soon as
37:52you get a chance?
37:54Well, Dr. Reddy, I would apply the concept of womb to tomb.
38:01Womb to tomb is when an Indian child is born in India, day one, you should start taking an insurance
38:12policy of the child.
38:14With a very nominal minimum payment, as the child grows and reaches employment age, the employer takes over and starts
38:27contributing towards the health insurance of the person.
38:30As the child grows further and reaches the age of 50, he or she should start contributing towards his senior
38:42life.
38:43Because in the next few years, the person is going to get 65 and he has to start preparing for
38:51that phase of his life.
38:53So, that contribution, I think, is going to be very key.
38:58Now, government should make a policy that allow registered or licensed current insurance companies to allow people to have a
39:09top-up of their insurance,
39:10which will take care of their senior living expenses, including the rent.
39:17What I have in mind is, bring American companies with their capital, which are big insurance underwriters.
39:29They must partner with Indian licensed insurance companies.
39:34Even senior living will play the role of even senior insurance.
39:41I think every Indian will get covered in that way.
39:45I believe if womb-to-to-tom concept is applied by the government of India, every Indian will have a
39:53dream life.
39:54One minor classification, okay.
39:57You know, in India or anywhere in the world, everybody does not work in a regular employment kind of situation.
40:04Okay.
40:05Yes.
40:05Is your plan envisioning that and try to handle that situation?
40:11Yes.
40:12I think even if a person is just a housewife, this can be carried over from her husband insurance.
40:21That is why, in my model of even senior living, the entire pricing model and the structure is always single
40:30or couple.
40:32It is, there is no separation between single or couple in our business model.
40:38And so, the spouse is always covered.
40:41The similar principle must be applied to this top-up senior living insurance.
40:48Okay.
40:49Interesting concept.
40:50I hope it will be successful.
40:52Okay.
40:52Your venture or endeavor.
40:54So, please come back to us and give an update on that.
40:58However, there is one last question just for fun to put you on the spot.
41:04Since you are a medical professional and all that, yes or no answer, do you believe in God?
41:12I believe in the Almighty.
41:14Okay.
41:15Good.
41:15That is close enough.
41:16That is very good.
41:17Okay.
41:18With that, I had a wonderful time talking to you about various topics.
41:22And I hope our audience got benefited from this.
41:26That is my hope and expectation.
41:29Okay.
41:29And thank you very much.
41:31And please come back to us again.
41:33And also, let me take this opportunity to thank South Asia Monitor Management, particularly Mr. Tharan Basu and Mr. Wadai
41:43Baskar for giving me full support to make all of these things happen.
41:50Okay.
41:51Do you want to say anything as your last words?
41:55Well, all I can say, Dr. Reddy, thank you very much for giving me this platform and an opportunity to
42:01reach your global audience.
42:04My best wishes and blessings to every Indian all over the world.
42:10Thank you very much.