Keki Byramjee Grant

Background

Keki Byramjee Grant was born on 28 November 1920 in Tamil Nadu. His father, Byram Dosabhai was an auditor employed with Indian Railways and the family moved to Pune in 1922.

Education

As there was no boys" primary school locally, Keki studied in a Girls" School, Saint Helena School. Keki graduated from Wadia College, Pune and joined Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals, Mumbai from where he secured his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.

Career

Later, he was shifted to Hutching"s High School and Saint Vincent High School. Grant started the practice as a Physician under East. H. Cowaji for a monthly stipend of ₹200. A year later, he started teaching at the Sassoon General Hospital, named after the Governor General, David Sassoon, and moved his practice to Jehangir Hospital, Pune.

Breaking his practice, he did his post graduation in cardiology, under the guidance of cardiologist, Paul White, at the Mass General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America and later returned to Jehangir Hospital to resume practice.

A difference of opinion with Cowaji prompted Grant to think about starting a hospital of his own. Six years later, in 1964, Grant purchased the palace property with the help of a bank loan to house the hospital.

In 1966, he founded a trust, the Grant Medical Foundation and the hospital was transferred to the care of the Trust. In 1986, while he was flying from Mumbai to London, the aircraft was hijacked by terrorists.

The ensuing shoot-out left 25 people dead and 100 injured, including Grant, who was hit by a bullet on his knee.

Their son, Pervez Grant, is a cardiologist at Ruby Hall. Grant started, 1959, with the facility to accommodate 4 in-patients. The hospital, over a period of time, grew to become a 550-bed hospital, and the first nationally accredited hospital in Pune.

He was successful in bringing coronary angioplasty, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, Connecticut Scan, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, image intensifier X-Ray, cadaveric organ donation and the first Image Guided Radio Therapy (IGRT) for cancer to Ruby Hall and thus making it an advanced centre of medical care.

The hospital is reported to have the highest number of Intensive Care Unit beds, counting 76, in the country. Padma Bhushan – 2013.

Achievements

• Padma Bhushan – 2013 Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Cardiology – Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Sassoon Hospital Punya Bhushan Award – Tridal – 2004 Fellow, American College of Chest Physicians Founder fellow, – Indian College of Physicians.

Connections

Father:

Beyram Grant

Mother:

Freny Grant

Spouse:

Tehmi Grant.