Tuscaloosa reacted in shock, and with mourning, hearing of the death of 63-year-old Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty, a well-known physician, Friday evening. No cause of death was given.
Employees of a practice he founded more than 25 years ago, Crimson Care, shared on social media, around 8 p.m. Friday night:
More: One and 100: Ramesh Peramsetty, physician
“As many are aware at this moment, we have been informed of Dr Ramesh Peramsetty’s passing. The Peramsetty family ask for us to give them privacy as they grieve his passing. They have received abundant out pouring of love and faith. We will continue to honor him as he would want us to do. Thank you for your understanding at this time.”
His work, especially that battling the COVID-19 pandemic locally, brought him media attention, including as part of One and 100, a series of pandemic-related stories that ran in The Tuscaloosa News.
![Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty wears and N95 mask at his First Care clinic Tuesady, March 31, 2020. Dr. Peramsetty and his staff have been testing since before DCH began testing for the COVID-19 virus. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/zKQRW.rIWTl3DFjzzIKzMQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-tuscaloosa-news/285287b722c0711d1a3b29096d66723c)
Staff writer Jason Morton wrote:
“For Peramsetty, the first son born to his family in Andhra Pradesh, India, the global spread of the novel coronavirus was a call-to-arms. It was this sense of duty that he used to explain to his mother, now 83, when she asked in the early days of COVID-19 whether he would be closing the clinics he launched in 2001 and limit his exposure to this mysterious new threat.
” ‘I kind of looked at her and smiled and said ‘Mom, you made me a soldier, remember?’ ” said Peramsetty, (then) 60, in recounting the video call with his family overseas. ‘ “You made me a doctor.” ‘
His clinics were among the first local non-hospital sites to offer COVID-19 testing, vaccines, and administration of monoclonal antibodies for those suffering. He spoke out often to combat waves of resistance to science, and widespread attempts at un-scientific misinformation.
What Peramsetty called his Crimson Care Network of health providers includes clinics Crimson Care, First Care, FirstKids Urgent Care and Allegra Family Clinic. Earlier this month, he introduced via social media his physician son, Dr. Sasank Peramsetty, to the Crimson Care network.
In April, the city of Tuscaloosa renamed a portion of 18th Avenue East, from Veterans Memorial Parkway to 13th Avenue East, to Peramsetty Avenue, an area in which he and his clinics had established strong presences.
In 2023, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and Kip Tyner, City Council president, had March 28 named Ramesh Peramsetty Day, in honor of his 25 years practicing in the Druid City, and for his leadership and guidance during the worst of the pandemic.
“This is a long time coming,” Tyner said, in March 2023, “and the thing I know about my great friend is that we could fill pages and pages and pages with his contributions — not only to the medical field and being the COVID doctor, the one everyone turned to during that time of crisis for our city and our country — but he is also one of the most giving people I’ve ever known.”
“We all remember his dedication and the way he shared information during COVID and that helped a lot of us, including myself, understand what we were dealing with, being in brand-new territory, and I will always appreciate his wise council,” Maddox said in March 2023. “Any time we needed some advice or assistance, especially in our public safety sector, Dr. P and his entire team were there for the city.”
Late Friday, Dr. Keisha Lowther, chief medical officer at Whatley Health Services Alabama, posted to Facebook: “The Tuscaloosa community has truly lost a giant. Jamie and I join Tuscaloosa’s physician community as we mourn the loss of one of our own. (Dr. Permasetty) was an advocate for his patients and was always so kind.”
A former employee, Julie-Ann Burch shared: ” … to say that I loved and adored you would be the understatement of a lifetime. You gave me a work home and a family when I desperately needed both. When you fussed at us it was exactly the way a good parent would fuss at a child. You answered all my questions and boy did I have a lot! You gave me so much guidance, opportunity, and freedom. Godspeed, my favorite patriarch! I’ll love and admire you forever!”
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty, noted Tuscaloosa physician, dies at age 63
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