Date:16/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/16/stories/2006061602500200.htm

Back Leadership awards to heart surgeon, educationist

Our Bureau

Bangalore , June 15

Noted heart surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and educationist Dr Abraham Ebenezer received the Global Leadership Awards on Thursday for distinguished service in the fields of healthcare and education from the Centre for Contemporary Issues (CCI), a educational thinktank on policy research and analysis.

The award to Dr Shetty was presented by Mr Bharat Lal Meena, Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd on behalf of CCI, while Dr Ebenezer received the honour from Mr Anees Ahmed, President and CEO of Mistral Software.

More than 100 years after the first heart surgery, only eight per cent of the world's population can afford it, said Dr Shetty, adding that 25 lakh heart surgeries need to be performed in India annually.

Dr Ebenezer said: "Long before the IITs or the IIMs, the Indian intellectual capital was on a par with the world's best thanks to institutions like Nalanda University."

Mr Saurab Ratan, General Manager of Taj Residency, co-host of CCI Leadership 2006, commended CCI's initiative to bring to the fore issues that need public debate and bridge the gap between understanding and implementation of issues that concern the needs of the society at large.