In the coastal town of Bhimavaram in West Godavari district, on 30 June 1939, a boy named Sunkara Venkata Adinarayana Rao was born to freedom-fighter parents. He studied at ULCM High School, then earned his MBBS in 1966 and MS in Orthopaedics in 1970 from Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. Advanced training in microvascular and hand surgery in Germany followed, but his heart remained with the patients who had the least.

He rose through the ranks at Andhra Medical College and King George Hospital, later serving as Superintendent of the Rehabilitation Centre at Rani Chandramani Devi Hospital. After retirement he founded the Prema Group of Hospitals in Visakhapatnam and became managing trustee of the Free Polio Surgical and Research Foundation.

Polio had left countless children and adults with twisted limbs and limited futures. Adinarayana Rao made their correction his life’s work. He organised nearly a thousand orthopaedic camps across India, performing more than three lakh surgeries and over ten lakh procedures—many free or at minimal cost. Patients travelled from Gujarat, Rajasthan, and even from the United States, Canada and Pakistan to be treated by him.

One young man who had walked with difficulty for years stood straight after surgery and asked, “Doctor, why do you still hold free camps after all this time?”

Adinarayana smiled. “Because a child who can run again is the only reward that matters. The rest is just work.”

His dedication earned national awards for welfare of the disabled, the Diwaliben Mohanlal Mehta Award, the Bhagwan Mahaveer International Award, and in 2022 the Padma Shri for his distinguished service to poor polio patients.

He passed away on 17 January 2026 in Visakhapatnam at the age of eighty-six. From the lecture halls of Andhra Medical College to operating theatres that restored movement to hundreds of thousands, Dr. Sunkara Venkata Adinarayana Rao spent more than four decades turning surgical skill into hope for those who had almost none.