Former Director of AIIMS and Padma Bhushan Awardee Dr. P. Venugopal has passed away.

Obituary

On October 8, 2024, Dr. Panangipalli Venugopal, a renowned cardiac surgeon and former Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), passed away at the age of 82 in New Delhi. He was born on July 6, 1942, in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh (AP).


      - The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 1998 for his significant contributions to the field of medicine.

      - He served as the Director of AIIMS, New Delhi, from 2003 to 2008.

     

Main Points:-   (i) Dr. P. Venugopal played a key role in bringing modern cardiac surgery techniques to India in the 1970s. He was instrumental in establishing the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre at AIIMS, which now conducts around 3,500 open-heart surgeries each year.

      (ii) On August 3, 1994, he performed the first heart transplantation in India and also conducted Asia's first Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implantation, which lasted over 90 days.

(iii) His memoir, titled "Heartfelt - A Cardiac Surgeon's Pioneering Journey," co-authored with his wife, Priya Sarkar, was published in 2023.

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