A serving Head of Department (HoD) and a former HoD of KGH died battling COVID-19, here on Friday.
P. Venugopal, Head of the Department of Paediatrics, Andhra Medical College, has died at a private hospital. He is survived by his son Dheeraj, who is employed in the USA, and wife Subha.
His son has returned to India and had been serving him at the hospital. A soft-spoken and simple man, Dr. Venugopal had contributed to the development of the Paediatrics Department. He had also rendered yeomen services as honorary chairman of the IRCS Blood Bank in Visakhapatnam. He had also served as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) and made efforts to improve the services being offered to COVID-19 patients in the past.
He was a very resourceful man and a man of research. His premature death is a big loss for Andhra Medical College, said Principal P.V. Sudhakar.
Messages of grief poured in from different quarters condoling the death of Venugopal.
Former MP and BJP leader Kambhampati Haribabu extended his sympathies to the bereaved family members.
The CITU district committee expressed shock at the death.
Former HoD of Community Medicine, AMC, T.A.V. Narayana Raju, also died. Many present doctors, including Dr. Sudhakar, remembered him as an affectionate teacher. “We were all his students and he was an authority in community medicine. It was only last year that he instituted a medal in community medicine, in the name of his wife,” said Dr. Sudhakar.
