The son of a jute importer from a family of Indian Jains, Sethia attended Rugby School and at the age of 17 joined the Merchant Navy for a year as an assistant purser.
He graduated from St Thomas’ Hospital and Medical School, London with degrees in physiology and medicine and in 1981 gained Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
In October 1999 he was appointed Consultant Cardiac Surgeon[5] at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust where he is an educational supervisor for congenital heart surgery.
[9] His humanitarian work has been directed at delivery of clinical care to children in their own environment, training of medical nursing staff and service development locally.
[11] Other projects have been delivered in other areas of the world including India, Mauritius, Egypt, Brazil and Algeria where Sethia helped develop local and national services for children and adults with congenital heart disease.