<P> Venugopal has pioneered heart transplant surgery in India, having performed the first successful heart transplant in the country, the count now standing at 26 transplants . He performed the first implantation of left ventricular assist device, lasting for more than 90 days, in Asia . He introduced the stem cell therapy, for the first time in India, by the deployment of autologous stem cell implantation for repairing the myocardium as an alternative to transplantation, which he did on 26 patients . He pioneered the stem cell implantation procedure in pancreas for the treatment of Type II Diabetes . On the prolificacy of Venugopal, media reports are in general agreement of his involvement in the performance of over 50,000 open heart and 12,000 closed heart surgeries . He has been a recognized trainer, too, with more than 100 cardio - thoracic surgeons around the world, trained under him . </P> <P> On the administrative front, he, along with N. Gopinath, started the open heart surgery in AIIMS . He was also behind the setting up of the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre, which later became the venue of the first hear transplant surgery in India and the first Left Ventricular Assist Device implantation in Asia . The centre now handles around 3500 open heart surgical procedures annually . </P> <P> The Organ Transplant Bill 1994 was passed in the Indian Parliament in May 1994 which legalized the organ transplants in India . The Bill was on the Table of the President of India for final approval when Venugopal led a team of doctors to perform the first successful heart transplant in India on 3 August 1994 . This was the first of the 26 heart transplant procedures performed by Venugopal . </P> <P> In the fag end of 2005 and at the beginning of 2006, about 200 faculty members, including 25 department heads, of AIIMS submitted their disapproval of Venugopal's way of functioning to the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India . The protest intensified when, a batch of students marched to the office of the Director, resulting in the suspension of 6 of them, an act which had no precedent in the Institute . The main argument of the faculty and the students that the hike in charges implemented by the Director went against the mandate of AIIMS . </P>

First person to conduct heart transplantation in india
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