Dr AV, oldest practising surgeon in city, dies

CHENNAI: Urologist Dr A Venugopal, one of the city’s oldest practising doctors, fondly called by fellow practitioners as Dr AV, passed away at his residence in Poonamallee on Friday. He was 94 and is survived by two sons, both doctors, and a daughter. The funeral was held on Saturday. Dr Venugopal, his family said, died due to complications of a surgery he underwent in December. Until last week, he was active. He had been seeing patients till January, and last week he referred one of his patients to his son for a repeat surgery. “He had operated on that patient 40 years ago. Patients are always first on his mind,” said his son Dr A V Harendra, a general surgeon.When TOI interviewed Dr AV in 2010, the nonagenarian had said he had no plans to retire. The surgeon stopped doing surgeries some years ago, but gave consultation.Every day, he woke up at 5am and met patients at 8am in his clinic. He saw at least eight patients a day before doing ward rounds. Poring over medical journals, he kept himself abreast of the latest advancements and offered opinion to fellow doctors who sought his help. He was planning to publish a book on urology. “I don’t know what I would do if I don’t go to my clinic. I have been going there since 1947,” he had told TOI in the last interview. Born to Dr Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar, a renowned obstetrician-gynaecologist and former vice-chancellor of the University of Madras on June 18, 1917, Dr Venugopal had always been passionate about medicine. While his brothers A Rao and A L Mudaliar chose other professions, he went to Madras Medical College and graduated in 1940. He did his postgraduation in surgery at the same college. Two years later, he started his own hospital on Poonamallee High Road. He worked at the Madras Medical College as an honorary clinical professor for 37 years. Till the end, the doctor worked on four ‘A’s as his motto: Accountable, approachable, affordable and achievable.