Vascular History

Vascular Surgery History

The Madras Medical College, Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital, Chennai, is one of the oldest and most reputed medical teaching institutions in the country. The hospital was founded in the year 1664 and the college in the year 1835. The hospital has a bed strength of more than 2500 and is the biggest institution in Tamil Nadu delivering quality medical care to the poor and needy.

Prof. H. T. Vira Reddi renowned surgeon from Chennai, was posted as Honorary Professor in MMC, his parent institution. In 1963, he travelled to United Kingdom to specialize in Vascular surgery at St. Thomas Hospital, London after which he started the vascular surgery unit in Madras Medical College and worked till his retirement. This vascular surgical unit was the foundation for the current institute. He has over 50 publications and published a book titled “Basic principles of Vascular Surgery“. One of his paper, titled “New concepts in the management of ischemic lower limb extremities” was published in International Angiology Journal, June 1990

The Government of Tamil Nadu realized the need for separate department and in 1978 (Established in the Year: 1978) under the leadership of Prof. T. P. Jacob, the “Department of vascular surgery” was formed. He was the first head of the department and continued the same from 1978 to 1993. In the year 1985, the M.Ch course was started for the first time in the country with post graduate strength of one candidate per year. Prof. T.P Jacob was honoured with PADMASHRI AWARD in Medical field for his services in Vascular Surgery speciality.

In 1993, Prof. S. A. Hussain took over from Prof. T. P. Jacob and pioneered the department for over a decade and half(1993-2006). He would be credited for the increase of post graduate seat from one to two per year and for establishing the need for separate speciality when Medical Council of India felt that the speciality could be merged with cardiothoracic speciality. The work carried out by the department was highlighted which convinced the MCI the need to have a separate speciality for the peripheral vascular surgery. Prof. S. A. Hussain should also be credited for the formation of “Vascular Society of India” in 1994, the first meeting of which was held at Chennai in Madras Medical college.

In 2007, Prof. T. Vidyasagaran took over the department and heading the department for more than half a decade (2007-2013). He was a dynamic leader and under him our department has reached its greater heights. He would be credited for increasing the post graduate seat from two to three in 2010. He started the Endovascular suite in MMC on 8th January 2013, first of it’s kind at that time in a government sector by his earnest efforts and helped us to take a leap in Endovascular field also.

• Prof.M. Rajkumar (2013-2014) became head of the department in 2013 - 2014. He upgraded the department as “Institute of Vascular Surgery”. He was a dynamic surgeon and well renowned Teacher.
• Prof. J. Amalorpavanathan became the Director of Institute of vascular surgery in 2014 till October 2016. He was also the first cadaver transplant co-ordinator for the state.
• During this period Prof.S.R.Subammaniyam was holding the second unit. He was a good clinician and academician. He did more complicated and challenging cases.
• Prof. S. Jeyakumar headed the MMCIVAS from November 2016 to September 2017. He would be credited for increasing the post graduate seats from three to six at May, 2017. He also went on to become the Dean of Tanjore Medical college.
• Prof. G. Thulasikumar became the Director from May 2018 to June 2018. Within the short period he organised more academic activities in the department
• Prof. N. Sritharan is currently heading our institute. He took over this Institute in July 2018 as a Director in-charge and raising the institutional standards to its maximum. He became the Director of Institute of Vascular Surgery in March 2021. He was the mastermind of the Hybrid conference, a first of its kind, conducted for 10 days which included six days of conference and four days of workshop in 2021. Currently our institute is functioning with two units, Two Professors, Two associate professors, 3 assistant professors and six post graduates per year.

Memorable details of history about the Institute:

The M.Ch (Vascular Surgery) Super Speciality Postgraduate Course

The MMC Vascular Alumni are indebted to Prof. H. T. Vira Reddi, Prof. T. P. Jacob, the Madras University, the Tamil Nadu Government and the Medical Council of India for starting the unique teaching programme offering the M.Ch (Vascular Surgery) super speciality degree in the year 1985.

Prof. H. T. Vira Reddi worked as an honorary professor of surgery from 1953 to 1978. In the year 1963, he went to the UK and specialized in vascular surgery at St. Thomas Hospital, London. He introduced the speciality of vascular surgery in the seventies. In 1978, Prof. T. P. Jacob, who worked as an assistant to Prof. H. T. Vira Reddi, became the first Head of the Department of Vascular Surgery.

The M.Ch programme was started in the year 1985 as a two-year course. Dr. Rajamanickam was the first M.Ch (Vascular Surgery) postgraduate student. Unfortunately, he had a premature death while working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Vascular Surgery. The intake was one student per year till 1994. From then onwards, it was increased to two seats per year.

The programme faced a small hiccup in the year 2001, which was effectively resolved by Prof. S. A. Hussain and his assistants with the support of the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University and the Tamil Nadu Government. The programme was converted into a three-year course, as per the norms of the Medical Council of India, starting in 2001. In 2017, the number of seats was increased from three to six per year. Now, the department admits six postgraduate students annually.

The List of M.Ch Qualified Graduates from MMC