Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 (IANS) Eminent heart surgeon V.V.Bashi Saturday said India would be the world capital of diabetes by 2025.
“Diabetes is a big factor for heart disease. Eighty percent of those who suffer from diabetes in the country invariably suffer from heart disease. In the western world, the figure is 15 percent. So, the need of the hour here is to control diabetes,” Bashi told reporters here.

Bashi has been a heart surgeon for the past three decades and has conducted more than 15,000 surgeries till date. He has been heading the cardiac centre at the MIOT hospital in Chennai for the past eight years.

“Three decades back, there were just three centres which did heart surgeries in the country and today there are more than 500 such centres,” pointed Bashi, who on an average performs four heart surgeries every day.

He added that the cost of heart surgery would be around Rs 1.50 lakh (approximately $3213) in India, while it would cost around $50,000 abroad.

Bashi said Indian doctors were good at their work or even better than those abroad.