Some founders build companies to get rich. Dr Sandip Shah GastroPlus was built to prove something different: that world-class treatment shouldn’t depend on where you can afford to go.

A Childhood Shaped by Struggle

Dr Sandip Shah was born in Bayad, into a family once known for running a reputed oil mill under his grandfather, Amrutlal Dayalal Shah. However, the 1980s recession hit the business hard, forcing the family to sell everything and move to Ahmedabad with nothing. Around the same time, his father suffered a major road accident and spent nearly a month in a coma. Dr Shah was born into that exact period of struggle.

Because there was no one at home to guide him academically, he leaned on community support instead, help from teachers, family friends, and the Khadayata samaj, who even contributed toward his school fees. He wasn’t naturally top of his class either. He simply learned from whoever ranked first, and stayed consistently second, all the way through MBBS at NHL Medical College.

Choosing Medicine, Then Nearly Running Out of Money

As soon as his internship stipend began, Dr Shah told his family he could finally support them financially. Therefore, failure during MD Medicine wasn’t an option, since his household depended on him. After completing his MD, he joined Waghodia Medical College as an Assistant Professor. His savings, however, ran out within three months. He still remembers his first salary period, when there wasn’t even enough money for proper meals, just chaas and biscuits to get by.

Finding Gastroenterology, and Finding GastroPlus

Two years into a regular job, something still felt incomplete. That pull eventually led him to gastroenterology, training under Dr Ajit Kumar Srivastava at NIMS, Hyderabad, where he performed close to 100 endoscopies a day.

In 2015, Dr Shah and three colleagues, all trained together in Hyderabad and Baroda, pooled a basic loan and opened GastroPlus’s first branch in Vastrapur. The goal was simple: bring world-class gastro care to Ahmedabad, without requiring a five-star budget. What began with four founders has since grown to six, now backing a team of 12 gastroenterologists, 3 gastrosurgeons, and roughly 150 staff, across four centers in Ahmedabad.

Why This Story Matters

Dr Sandip Shah’s path wasn’t paved by privilege, it was built through community support, relentless consistency, and a refusal to let financial hardship define the ceiling of what was possible.

Today, Dr Sandip Shah GastroPlus is recognized as one of Gujarat’s largest dedicated gastroenterology teams.

For more real journeys from doctors building their own healthcare ventures, explore our Doctorpreneur Stories section, or visit the Medvyn Job Portal for your next opportunity.

Source: Medvyn Podcast, featuring Dr Sandip Shah, Founding Partner of GastroPlus.