Dr. Raghavendra Chikkatur

Dr. Raghavendra is the Director of Cardiac Services and Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon at People Tree Hospitals, Bangalore. He is committed to establishing Centre of Excellence in Cardiac Sciences. Dr. Raghavendra’s passion for Cardiothoracic Surgery took him to Mumbai where he was trained under one of the best guides in the country, Dr. Anil G. Tendolkar. He completed MCh in CTVS in 2004 from Lokamanya Tilak Municipal Medical College Hospital, Sion, Mumbai University. He continued to work as Lecturer in the same hospital under the tutelage of Dr. Tendolkar and gained invaluable experience. In order to further hone his skills, he moved to London; the United Kingdom and worked as Specialist Registrar at the renowned London Chest Hospital, BARTS NHS Trust, London, the United Kingdom from 2008 to 2010. The London Chest Hospital is a designated DAMI (Direct Access Myocardial Infarction) Centre and along with St Bartholomew Hospital, cater to the most complex adult cardiac surgeries in the East of London. Apart from the skills he gained in the adult cardiac surgery including major aortic work and valve repairs, he was also associated with minimally invasive valve surgery and VATS [Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery] for lung and mediastinum. He was keenly involved when Transcutaneous Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) programme was initiated at BARTS in the year 2008. Although the prospect of a promising career in the United Kingdom was looming large, his strong desire to serve in his native country made him relocate to India. He joined as faculty at the state-run Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences in 2010. During his 4 year stint at the Jayadeva Institute, he not only performed both adult and paediatric heart surgeries but was mentoring young arias surgery trainee residents.In May 2014, he joined well-known Apollo Hospital as Consultant in Cardiothoracic Surgery and performed hundreds of beating heart CABG, valve replacements including minimally invasive valve surgeries, as well as VATS lung & mediastinal operations. Dr Raghavendra in last 12+ years has performed more than 5000 open heart surgeries ( Both adult and Paediatric). Dr Raghavendra has a strong connection with the community and has done several free camps and travelled far and wide to the interiors of several communities and villages screening for cardiovascular diseases and making a tangible difference to several people. During his training at Sion Hospital, he was involved with free heart surgery camps at Kuch, Gujarath under the auspices of Bidada Sarvodaya Trust, while with Apollo Hospitals, he was regularly conducting free camps at Tumkur, Arasikere, Hassan and Kolar. He finally found his calling at the People Tree Hospitals group with the same ethos and culture and a highly skilled team to integrate with. As the Director of Cardiac Services and Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr Raghavendra is an invaluable strength of the People Tree Hospitals group.