Monday, September 26 2005 16:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Madurai: Renowned psychiatrist Dr A Venkoba Rao died at a private hospital here yesterday (Sept 25, 2005) due to acute renal failure, family sources said today (Sept 26, 2005).

He was 78. He is survived by a wife, son and a daughter.

Dr Rao, known as 'the father of Indian psychiatry,' had won several national and international awards, including the prestigious Dr B C Roy national award of the Medical Council of India (MCI).

He had also received the International Research Scholar Award from the American Psychiatric Association and All India Institute of Medical science.

He obtained his PhD and Dsc degrees in (Medical faculty) from Madras University.

He began his career in 1954 at the Madras Mental Hospital in Kilpauk and joined Madurai Medical College. He was appointed Emeritus professor of Psychiatry and Officer-in-Charge of the Indian Council of Medical Research Advanced Centre on "Health and Behaviour" at MMC, where he served from 1986 to 1993. He had to his credit 400 publications and 12 books, including 'Psychiatry of Old age in India'.

Also known as the 'Father of Geriatric mental health,' he evolved a model health care delivery for the rural aged in his capacity as chief Investigator of the ICMR task force project on the aged. He specialized in treating depression and suicidal behaviour. He also edited the Indian journal of psychiatry and was founder president of the Indian Association of Psychiatry and Indian Association of Suicidology.