Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty, well-known doctor from Tuscaloosa, dies at the age of 63
Tuscaloosa reacted with shock and sadness to the news of the death of 63-year-old Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty, a well-known physician, on Friday evening. A cause of death was not given.
Employees of a practice he founded over 25 years ago, Crimson Care, shared on social media around 8 p.m. on Friday evening:
More: One and 100: Ramesh Peramsetty, doctor
“As many already know, we have been informed of the passing of Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty. The Peramsetty family asks that we grant them privacy in their grief. They have received much love and trust. We will continue to honor him as he would have wanted us to. Thank you for your understanding.”
His work, particularly in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic locally, brought him media attention, including as part of “One and 100,” a series of pandemic-related stories published in the Tuscaloosa News.
Editor Jason Morton wrote:
“For Peramsetty, the first son of his family in Andhra Pradesh, India, the global spread of the new coronavirus was a call to arms. He explained this sense of duty to his mother, now 83, when she asked him in the early days of COVID-19 if he would close the clinics he had opened in 2001 and limit his exposure to this mysterious new threat.
“I looked at her, smiled and said, ‘Mom, you made me a soldier, remember?'” Peramsetty, then 60, said of the video call with his family overseas. “You made me a doctor.”
His clinics were among the first local non-hospital facilities to offer COVID-19 testing, vaccines and monoclonal antibody administration to sufferers. He has spoken out frequently to counter waves of resistance to science and widespread attempts at unscientific disinformation.
Peramsetty’s Crimson Care network of health care providers includes Crimson Care, First Care, FirstKids Urgent Care and Allegra Family Clinic. Earlier this month, he introduced his son, a physician, Dr. Sasank Peramsetty, to the Crimson Care network via social media.
In April, the city of Tuscaloosa renamed a section of 18th Avenue East from Veterans Memorial Parkway through 13th Avenue East to Peramsetty Avenue, an area where he and his clinics had a strong presence.
In 2023, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and City Council President Kip Tyner have declared March 28 as Ramesh Peramsetty Day, in honor of his 25 years of service to the Druid City and for his leadership and guidance during the worst of the pandemic.
“This has been a long time coming,” Tyner said in March 2023, “and what I know about my great friend is that we could fill pages and pages with his contributions – not only in the medical field and as the COVID doctor that everyone turned to during this time of crisis for our city and our country – but he is also one of the most generous people I have ever known.”
“We all remember his dedication and the way he shared information during COVID. That helped many of us, myself included, understand what we were dealing with as we were in completely new territory, and I will always appreciate his wise counsel,” Maddox said in March 2023. “Whenever we needed advice or help, 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 on Facebook: “The Tuscaloosa community has truly lost a giant. Jamie and I join the Tuscaloosa medical community in mourning 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 I loved and adored you would be the understatement of my life. You gave me a home and a family when I desperately needed both. When you got upset with us, that was exactly the way a good parent gets upset with their child. You answered all my questions and boy did I have a lot! You gave me so much guidance, opportunity and freedom. Good luck, my favorite patriarch! I will love and admire you forever!”
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at [email protected].
