Udupi: Neurosurgeon Dr. A Raja of Adarsha Hospital passes away

Udupi: Dr. A Raja, chief neurosurgeon at Adarsha Hospital in Udupi, passed away on Sunday morning. He was 73.

Dr. Raja had suffered a heart attack at his home in Rajiv Nagar, Manipal. Despite immediate medical attention, he could not be revived.

He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Dr. A. Raja was a well-known neurosurgeon in India. He completed his MBBS from Madras University (1967-1972) and his MS in Neurosurgery (1974-1979) as part of the first batch of direct neurosurgery students at Madras University. He joined KMC Manipal and worked in various positions, from Lecturer in 1979 to Professor and Head of Department until 2010, according to Adarsha Hospital’s website.

Dr. Raja guided many PhD students and was an examiner for many medical colleges and central institutions, including SCIMCT and AIIMS. He published 24 papers in national and international journals.

In 2010, he joined Adarsh Hospital as Head of the Department and Senior Consultant in Neurosurgery. He was the Chairman of the National Neurosciences Mission, Manipal, and a life member of the Neurological Society of India (NSI). He was the founder treasurer and later President of the Indian Society of Cerebrovascular Surgery (ISCVS) in 2007. He also started the Karavali Chapter of NSI.

Dr. Raja achieved a significant milestone in 2004 by performing the first craniophagus twin separation surgery in India at KMC Hospital, Mangaluru. He was the first neurosurgeon to introduce the use of a microscope in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.