1. Ramakanta Panda, MCh, is a cardiac surgeon and the chief consultant for cardiovascular thoracic surgery and the Chairman of the Asian Heart Institute, a speciality cardiac care hospital under the aegis of Asian Hospitals, at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, India.
Ramakanta Panda was born at Damodarpur village of Jajpur district in a brahmin family.
Ramakanta Panda joined SCB Medical College, Cuttack to do his MBBS and proceeded to do a post-graduation in surgery and heart surgery between 1980 and 1985 at AIIMS Delhi, and then to Cleveland Clinic, USA for his fellowship.
Ramakanta Panda has trained under cardiac surgeon Floyd Loop and transplant specialist Magdi Yacoub, at Harefield Hospital in the UK.
Ramakanta Panda is credited and recognized among his peers as one of the first in India to introduce "total arterial revascularization", as well as being one of the pioneers of "off-pump" bypass surgery, Coronary artery bypass grafting, beating heart surgery, redo bypass surgery, valve repair, and complex aneurysms.
Ramakanta Panda has performed a number of high-profile cardiac surgeries on members of the Indian government.
In January 2009, Ramakanta Panda led the AHI team that operated on Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India.
In January 2014, Panda operated on D Raja, a leader of the Communist Party of India In June 2014 he operated on Odisha Congress leader and former minister Narasingha Mishra.
Ramakanta Panda has performed many successful cardiac surgeries that are widely recognised to have been extremely complex and challenging.
The most recent one was on 56-year-old Omani citizen Qassin Nasser Sultan Alriyani, who was gifted a second lease of life when Dr Ramakanta Panda performed six life saving procedures at a go on his heart.