After five years of Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s death, his doctor Dr Ramana Rao has recalled the events leading up to the tragic day. From an intense workout session to the ECG findings and more, here is what the doctor said about Puneeth’s final moments.
Puneeth Rajkumar, fondly known as Appu, died of cardiac arrest on October 29, 2021, at the age of 46. Speaking to Just Curious Kannada, Dr Ramana Rao recalled his close bond with the actor and his family.
He said, “Appu was a great person. He was like a son to me. He and my second son were good friends. They would often play together and share their toys.”
What happened during the final hours of Puneeth Rajkumar’s death?
Dr Ramana Rao recalled that Puneeth visited his clinic after 90 minutes of kickboxing, which he had tried for the first time and appeared unusually exhausted.
Rao said, “I was in the clinic when Appu came. He was sweating extremely. He told me that he had gone to the gym, where he did kickboxing for one and a half hours. It was something new that he had tried that day and he was extremely tired.”
“However, when I checked him, I knew there was something more to his condition, looking at how much he was sweating. I immediately did an ECG. That ECG showed strain,” he recalled.
Dr Rao further added, “It wasn’t a heart attack but strain. I knew that something would happen. I gave him medicines and instantly we shifted him to the hospital. He travelled in his own car. He was speaking to us.”
“He wanted to sit up in the car. But I requested him to rest his head in his wife Ashwini’s lap and asked the driver to quickly take them to the hospital, while Dr Ranga Nayak made all the arrangements,” he said.
Dr Rao recalls doctors’ efforts to revive Puneeth Rajkumar
Dr Ramana Rao recalled that Puneeth was conscious on the way to the hospital, but his heart stopped just before he arrived. Despite doctors’ efforts to revive him, they could not save the actor. Rao described the loss as heartbreaking, saying it felt like losing his own son.