Panangipalli Venugopal is an Indian Cardiovascular surgeon and hospital administrator from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India who is widely regarded as a pioneer in cardiac surgery.
13 Facts About Panangipalli Venugopal
1.
2.
Panangipalli Venugopal enrolled at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in 1959 to secure his MBBS and continued his higher education at the institute itself.
3.
Panangipalli Venugopal got married at the age of 55 and has a daughter.
4.
Panangipalli Venugopal has pioneered heart transplant surgery in India, having performed the first successful heart transplant in the country, the count now standing at 26 transplants.
5.
Panangipalli Venugopal performed the first implantation of left ventricular assist device, lasting for more than 90 days, in Asia.
6.
Panangipalli Venugopal introduced the stem cell therapy, for the first time in India, by the deployment of autologous stem cell implantation for repairing the myocardium as an alternative to transplantation, which he did on 26 patients.
7.
Panangipalli Venugopal pioneered the stem cell implantation procedure in pancreas for the treatment of Type II Diabetes.
8.
Panangipalli Venugopal has been a recognized trainer, too, with more than 100 cardio-thoracic surgeons around the world, trained under him.
9.
Panangipalli Venugopal was behind the setting up of the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre, which later became the venue of the first hear transplant surgery in India and the first Left Ventricular Assist Device implantation in Asia.
10.
The Bill was on the Table of the President of India for final approval when Panangipalli Venugopal led a team of doctors to perform the first successful on 3 August 1994.
11.
The Health and Family Welfare ministry, it was reported, was not happy with Panangipalli 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 Panangipalli Venugopal was said to have countered using student sentiments.
12.
Panangipalli Venugopal moved to the Supreme Court and was reinstated for a period 45 days in summer vacation of 2008 before his retirement.
13.
Panangipalli 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.