In a recent interview with Just Curious Kannada, Dr Ramana Rao, a medical professional who also shared a close bond with the actor and called him a “son,” shared what happened.
The doctor, who lovingly called the actor Appu, said, “Appu was a great person… like a son to me. He and my second son always used to play together and exchange toys.”
Recounting the morning of the tragedy, Dr Rao detailed Puneeth’s unexpected arrival at his clinic straight from an intense fitness session: “I was in the clinic, and Appu came. He came full of sweat. He told me I went to the gym and came just now. He did kickboxing for one and a half hours. It was the only new thing that he had. (He said) I am feeling a bit tired, doctor; I’ll stay.”
Dr Ramana, a cardiologist, recognized that the excessive sweating and exhaustion pointed to something far more serious than typical workout fatigue. He said: “I know when I have to look for more– whether patient complaints or not.”
Dr Rao immediately performed an electrocardiogram (ECG) and revealed a concerning detail: “Immediately we did an ECG, and that ECG showed a strain – not a heart attack.” Adding further, the doctor said he knew “something will happen” if action was delayed.
Dr Rao recounted, “Immediately I gave him the same medicines I gave to my father or what I would give to my son if he had the symptoms. Instantly we shifted him, in his own car, to the hospital.”
Sharing the sequence of events, the doctor said that on the way to the hospital, the South Indian actor was conscious and even insisted on “sitting up.” And upon Dr. Rao’s suggestion, he rested his head on his wife’s lap.
While the hospital team had been alerted to be ready with all the arrangements, Puneeth’s condition deteriorated before he could reach medical care: “The minute he was near the hospital entrance, that’s what hospital people told me, his heart stopped beating. When he went into the hospital, his heart stopped beating,” Dr Rao painfully recalls.
Despite reaching the hospital unconscious, the medical team tried to revive him, following standard protocol, but they could not save Puneeth.
“They tried their best, but unfortunately his heart could not be revived. That is one of the saddest events of my life. It was like losing a son,” Dr Rao shared.
Expressing his pain, Dr Rao shared, “You can never forget certain things. Appu is one of those examples where even though I want to do so much but God’s will is totally different.”
