Babulal Sethia is a British Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust. He was president of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

from 2014-2017.

Early life and education

Babulal Sethia was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

to Babulal and Joan Sethia. The son of a jute importer from a family of Indian Jains, Sethia attended

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

and at the age of 17 joined the Merchant Navy for a year as an assistant purser. During his time working on cargo ships he experienced at first hand the horrors of Nigeria’s Biafran civil war. This, in part, compelled him to focus on a future career in medicine. He graduated from

St Thomas’ Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large National Health Service, NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, R ...

and Medical School, London with degrees in physiology and medicine and in 1981 gained

Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Roya ...

of England.

Medical career

In 1975 Sethia became a House Surgeon in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at

, London. This was followed by house officer and registrar posts in Dorset, Birmingham, Surrey, Cambridge, Hampshire, Scotland and London with a brief interlude as a medical officer with the

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an Aeromedical retrieval, aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgen ...

in 1977/78. In 1987 he was appointed Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Trust. There he was Clinical Director of Surgical Services from 1995 – 1999. In October 1999 he was appointed Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust where he is an educational supervisor for congenital heart surgery. In June 2012 he was appointed Honorary Senior Lecturer at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. He is an Honorary Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem as well as past Honorary Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at Bous Ismail Children’s Hospital, Algeria. Sethia has published widely in the area of congenital heart disease and has given or directed approximately 150 presentations to learned societies during the past 20 years. He is regularly invited to lecture at specialist conferences in the UK and overseas.

Humanitarian work

Sethia has been engaged in the development and delivery of cardiac surgical training in developing nations for the past 21 years, either working independently or in conjunction with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) and the Chain of Hope Charities. His humanitarian work has been directed at delivery of clinical care to children in their own environment, training of medical nursing staff and service development locally. His recent major focus has been humanitarian needs in Palestine and from 2007 to 2011 he was President of the International Palestinian Cardiac Relief Organisation. Other projects have been delivered in other areas of the world including

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

where Sethia helped develop local and national services for children and adults with congenital heart disease. In 2010 he started a project to develop a congenital heart unit at the University of Jordan in Amman and his most recent project is to help develop cardiac surgical services for children in Gaza and Ramallah.

Royal Society of Medicine

Sethia joined the

Council in 2009 and in 2010 initiated the Society’s Global Health programme. From 2014-2017 he served as president of the

, becoming the first President to take office for a period of three years."RSM Appoints New President"
RSM Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sethia, Babulal Deputy lieutenants of Greater London Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Living people 1951 births British people of Indian descent British Jains British Merchant Navy personnel Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England People educated at Rugby School