Panangipalli Venugopal

Panangipalli Venugopal (6 July 1942 – 8 October 2024) was an Indian cardiovascular surgeon and hospital administrator from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India who is widely regarded as a pioneer in cardiac surgery. The Government of India honored him, in 1998, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the field of Medicine. He got married at the age of 55 and has a daughter.

Venugopal died in New Delhi on 8 October 2024, at the age of 82.

Achievements Venugopal pioneered heart transplant surgery in India, having performed the first successful heart transplant in the country, He has been a recognized trainer, too, with more than 100 cardio-thoracic surgeons around the world, trained under him. This was the first of the 26 heart transplant procedures performed by Venugopal.

Controversies

In the fag end of 2005 and at the beginning of 2006, about 200 faculty members, including 25 department heads, of AIIMS submitted their disapproval of Venugopal's way of functioning to the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India. The protest intensified when, a batch of students marched to the office of the Director, resulting in the suspension of 6 of them, an act which had no precedent in the institute. The main argument of the faculty and the students that the hike in charges implemented by the Director went against the mandate of AIIMS. On 29 November 2007, Professor venugopal was removed in favor of Prof. T D Dogra, an authority on Forensic Medicine., by an order from the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Anbumani Ramadoss, the reason reported to be Venugopal's open criticism of the Union Government.

The Health and Family Welfare ministry, it was reported, was not happy with Venugopal's handling of the quota issue where the Government planned to reserve 50 per cent of the university seats for the socially under-privileged, a move Venugopal was said to have countered using student sentiments. He moved to the Supreme Court and was reinstated for a period 45 days in summer vacation of 2008 before his retirement.

The Ministry had appointed M. S. Valiathan, the noted cardiothoracic surgeon, to report on the functioning of AIIMS and make recommendations on improvements. Venugopal was reported to be unhappy about the Ministry's intervention in the functioning of AIIMS and contested the termination at the Supreme Court of India, by way of a writ petition, on which the Court passed an interim order on 7 July 2006, staying the termination, till the validity of the decision was assessed. terming the Government act as malafide and unconstitutional. Sivananda Eminent Citizen Award - Sanathana Dharma Charitable Trust - 2010 Indira Priyadarsini Award – 1994 Manav Sewa Award – 1994 Shresht Shree Award Dr. K. Sarom Cardiology Excellence Award Ratna Shiromani Award

Writings Personal memoirs, 'Heartfelt: A Cardiac Surgeon's Pioneering Journey' published by HarperCollins, 2023. Co-authored by Priya Sarkar.