06/01/2026
💙 Faces of Med Center Health: Dr. Kal Sahetya 💚
On their first day in Bowling Green, cardiologist Dr. Kal Sahetya and his wife, pulmonologist Dr. Gul Sahetya, got a glimpse of one of the most significant events in the 100-year history of Med Center Health. They have since played a role in other milestones in the healthcare system’s evolution.
On March 8, 1980, the Sahetyas came to Bowling Green from upstate New York on a trip that would determine if they would begin practicing their medical specialties in the small-but-growing college town. It happened to be the day that The Medical Center of Bowling Green was moving from Hospital Hill to its current location on Park Street.
“Patients were being moved from Hospital Hill to the new location,” recalled Kal Sahetya. “We saw the excitement. We were impressed with the new facility and with how energetic and cooperative everyone was.”
The positive impression didn’t end there. Meeting with hospital CEO John Desmarais convinced the Sahetyas to launch their medical practice in Kentucky. They weren’t disappointed.
“When I came to Bowling Green, there was nothing but an EKG (electrocardiogram) machine (for the cardiology department),” Kal Sahetya said. “We gave Mr. Desmarais a list of equipment we needed, and he said it would be there when we came back in September. He had the vision, and we shared the vision. When we started in September, the equipment was all there.”
That auspicious beginning launched Kal Sahetya on a path toward establishing a quality invasive and interventional cardiology practice in Bowling Green. He now points to the multiple accreditations earned by Med Center Health and the growth in cardiology staff as evidence that state-of-the-art heart care can be found in his adopted hometown.
“Basically, we can do any procedure except heart transplants,” he said. “When I came here, anyone who needed stents or other heart procedures had to be referred to Nashville or Louisville. Now we make very few referrals.”
The Sahetyas retired in 2024 after 44 years of serving the Bowling Green community’s cardiology and pulmonology needs, but their legacy lives on through the Sahetya Medical Group they established that is now under the Med Center Health umbrella.
▶️ 100.MedCenterHealth.org
