Dr. (Prof.) B. M. Hegde
MBBS (Madras), MD (Lucknow), MRCP (U.K.), FRCP (Lond.), FRCP (Edin.), FRCP (Glas.), FRCP (Dub.), FACC (U.S.A.), Ph.D.(Hon. Causa), D.Sc.(Hon. Causa), FAMS
Cardiologist, Professor of Medicine, Physician-Scientist, Author, Former Vice Chancellor - Manipal Academy of Higher Education
Padma Vibhushan Awardee (2021), Padma Bhushan Awardee (2010), Dr. B C Roy National Awardee (1999)
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Dear Prof. Hegde "Your efforts to relieve pain everywhere would succeed with God's grace."
A P J Abdul Kalam
Bharath Ratna
President of India
Dr. B. M Hegde awarded Padma Vibhushan (2021)
Dr Belle Monappa Hegde, 82, popularly known as Dr B M Hegde, cardiologist, professor of medicine, scientist, author has been chosen for the Padma Vibhushan award, under medical category, the second-highest civilian award of the country.
Dr. B. M. Hegde's article on Flu Epidemics in the British Medical Journal (April 2009)
I was working in Ipswich in a cardiothoracic centre during the 1968-69 ‘Flu epidemic. During the Xmas week end of 1968 I had to be on call from Friday through Monday morning as most of my colleagues were on leave. I had to certify more than 50 deaths, mostly in the geriatric age group. Elderly patients with cardiac and respiratory co-morbidities used to come down with ‘Flu and die within hours of admission.
Matters of the heart - Dr. B. M. Hegde Interview (2017)
“The flaw of today’s approach to treatment is that the human body is seen as a car machine which can be repaired part by part. Whereas, the human body is a whole entity and should be treated in entirety. How else can one explain the side-effect of drugs used to treat one organ, affecting the other organs?” he asks. Author of over 40 books, Dr.Hegde also supports alternative forms of medicine like Ayurveda. Quoting Sanskrit texts from Ayurveda, he explains how any treatment ought to be holistic.
“Health is about the environment you live in and the mind is the environment of the body. It’s not what you eat but what eats you (the thoughts) kills you,” he says. “The key is to cultivate positive thoughts and surround yourself with positive emotions.
Dr.Hegde opposes the burgeoning fitness craze among the young urbane crowd driven by the belief that fitness leads to good health. “Health is in the mind and fitness is in the muscle. These are two different things but often confused as one. If someone is fit to run a marathon doesn’t mean he/she is fit to live a healthy life.” “Health is not even absence of disease, as all of us have diseases. We all will have over 100 cancer cells at any given time, but they don’t become clinical cancer as they die on their own.” Quoting a sloka from Ayurveda, Dr.Hegde defines health as the enthusiasm to work and love. “Keep the enthusiasm in you alive, nurture positivity and cull negativity and you are healthy”, is his simple mantra.
Dr.Hegde practises what he calls ‘Coordinated medicine’, that’s futuristic and meta treatment. “I take elements from various genres of medicine. For instance, I take emergency care and corrective surgery from modern medicine. I don’t prescribe too many drugs and treat patients unnecessarily.” Calling modern medical treatment as ‘exclusive’ and ‘reductionist’, Hegde comes down heavily on the trial-and-error method of slapping scans, drugs and tests on patients. “I have come up with suggestions of a new definition of health and the concept of whole person healing instead of organ healing, both of which have been accepted by the Institute of Medicine.”
Dr. B. M Hegde awarded Padma Bhushan (2010)
Dr. B M Hegde receiving the Padma Bhushan Award from the then President of India Pratibha Patil on April 7, 2010.
Veteran physician and administrator from the undivided Dakshina Kannada district,
Dr B M Hegde, has been chosen for the Padma Bhushan award under medical category.