Shamsheer Vayalil

Vayalil was born on 11 January 1977 in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. His parents are Hashim Pokkinari and Mariyam Barakkool.

Vayalil was a radiologist for 12 months at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE. In 2007, he opened his first hospital – LLH Hospital in Abu Dhabi. Over the next twelve years, his company VPS Healthcare started 23 hospitals in four countries with over 125 medical centres and about 13,000 employees in the Middle East, Europe, and India.

Vayalil made donations to the UAE Red Crescent for Syrian refugees and to the Indian Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir. He extended his support to the kin of the victims of the Mangaluru plane crash in May 2010. He offered jobs and educational assistance to the families of the victims and many of the people that took up jobs at VPS Healthcare continue to work with the company today.

In April 2014, Vayalil filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India in connection with non-resident Indian (NRI) voting rights. Currently, voters have to travel to their constituency to vote. The Court directed the Election Commission of India to explore the possibility for NRIs to cast their vote from their place of residence. In October 2014, the Commission submitted its report to the Court, recommending that NRIs be permitted to vote by proxy and e-postal ballot. On 9 August 2018, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2017, enabling the facility of proxy voting to overseas Indians, was passed by the Lok Sabha, and was awaiting introduction in the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha.

VPS Healthcare donated emergency healthcare equipment worth Rs 1.75 crores when Nipah viral infection was diagnosed in Kerala in 2018.

Vayalil personally pledged to donate Dh 26 million (Rs 50 crore) to Kerala after the monsoon floods in August 2018.