It was a proud moment for S.V. Adinarayana, noted orthopaedic surgeon from the city. His relentless services for the poor polio patients got him recognition at the national-level and he was one among the three from the State chosen for the Padma Shri award.
However, it comes as no surprise to those who have seen his relentless work for the poor polio patients, through the Prema Hospital and also through camps conducted at various places in the country.
It is not just his skill with the scalpel but also his affable nature and understanding, which endeared him to his patients. The patients, accompanied by their family members, used to travel by trains all the way from Gujarat and Rajasthan to get treated by him. Patients also used to come from from the USA, Canada and other nations including some from Pakistan before the Kargil war.
He has conducted around three lakh surgeries and over 10 lakh operative procedures in over four decades. “We had conducted 419 surgeries on a single day at Mandavi in Kutch district of Gujarat more than a decade ago,” Dr. Adinarayana told The Hindu on Wednesday evening.
Born to Kanakam and Seshamma (both freedom fighters) in Bhimavaram town in West Godavari district, Dr. Adinarayana Rao had his early education at the ULCM High School. His parents taught him that serving the needy was more important than earning money. He did his M.B.B.S. in 1966 and M.S. (Ortho) in 1970 from Andhra Medical College.
He used to accompany and assist his guru, the late Vyaghreswarudu, at the free orthopaedic camps conducted by the latter in different States of India. Seeing the gratitude in the eyes of patients and their kith and kin at those camps, made him realise that no amount of money could give one so much satisfaction.
“Dr. Adinarayana did not know Hindi in those days and scores of patients, who used to come to the Prema Hospital from North India, did not know Telugu, I had the privilege of being the translator between them,” recalls Chandmal Agarwal, president of AP Pradeshik Marwari Sammelan, who has settled in the city, decades ago.
Keen footballer
Dr. Adinarayana is full of gratitude to the innumerable philanthropists, who had helped him in the conduct of free surgeries to the poor over the years. A keen footballer in his college days, Dr. Adinarayana was responsible for promoting the game in Visakhapatnam.
Meanwhile, the AP Football Association (APFA) president Gopala Krishna Kosaraju congratulated Dr. Adinarayana on behalf of APFA and the Visakhapatnam District Football Association (VDFA).
