Birth of College:

India witnessed unprecedented enthusiasm among people in 1947 when the country was liberated from domination of over three centuries. There was an ardent desire to develop our mother land in all fields and see that it had an honorable place in the community of Nations.

In our state too, leaders of all walks of life strove hard for its all sided development. Prominent among them in the Medical field were Col. D.S. Raju, valiant freedom fighter and a close associate of Netaji and Dr. M.V. Krishna Rao a man of great vision. These two stalwarts who had been dreaming of starting a private Medical College to cater to the needs of the students of Coastal Andhra in general, and East and West Godvari districts in particular, founded and registered the Medical Education Society on 16th April 1958 with the triple object of promoting Medical Education, Medical research and Medical relief through voluntary effort.

On this occasion it is but appropriate to recollect with gratitude the immediate response of the State Govt. headed by Sri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy in according permission to start the Medical college.

While Col. Raju was engaged in the task of collecting donations to the proposed Medical college, Dr. M.V. Krishna Rao did all the spade work for the starting of the institution. Eminent doctors like I.V. Joga Rao, P.V.N. Raju, K. ChandraRao, A. Perisastry, B. VenkataRaju and P.R. Hari extended a helping hand. The then Municipal Chairman Sri Dantu Bhaskara Rao heartily co-operated with the endeavor, with the result the starting of a Medical College, which till then an ambition became a reality.

Sri Mullapudi Harischandra Prasad, an Industrialist of Tanuku came forward with a magnificent donation of Rs. 5 lakhs on behalf of the Venkatarayudu Memorial Educational Trust and the College was named "The Rangaraya Memorial Medical College" after the late Zaminder of Dommeru Sri P. Rangarao, brother-in-law of Sri Harischandra Prasad. Sri Kotamarti Venkanna, a prominent businessman of Kakinada gifted a site of 6-1/2 acres to locate the hostel buildings. During the same time Sri Pyda Satyanarayana Murthy of the Draksharam Choultry trust donated an amount of Rs 50,000/ - with which a lecture hall was constructed.

Birth of College :

The Maharaja of Pithapuram leased out the Palatial Orphanage buildings (now Main college campus) to house the Medical College. Within a short period of 3-1/2 months, thanks to the untiring efforts of the director Dr. M.V. Krishna Rao, the departments were organized and kept ready. The University commission consisting of Dr. MV Ramana Murthy, Dr. Basudeva Narayan and Dr. V.R. Naidu gave the green signal and the class work for the students of the first batch was inaugurated by the then Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra University Dr. V.S. Krishna, with Sri G. Sankara Bhan, Lecturer in chemistry delivering the first lecture. Dr. D. Narayana Rao, Retired Professor of Biochemistry acted as Principal in the early period of the inception of the college and he was succeeded by Dr. B. Narayana, an eminent Physiologist and former Vice-chancellor of the Patna University.

In the early stages, the institution had teething troubles all of which were successfully overcome and the college was put on a sound footing, the entire credit for which goes to Dr. G. Ramadas, the then Asst. to the Principal, a dynamic organizer and administrator.

The Andhra Pradesh Government undertook to upgrade of the Head Quarters Hospital into a Teaching Hospital and this paved the way for the college securing the recognition of the Medical Council of India, with Hon. Sri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh inaugurating the college on 17-11-1959 a long cherished dream of the people became a reality. The governing body, the teaching staff and students moved like members of one family and the zeal and enthusiasm with which they worked hard was reminiscent of the famous words of Words worth " Bliss was it to be alive in that dawn, to be young was very Heaven."

Subsequent Developments:

.The Orphanage building was adequate to locate the pre-clinical departments but with the lapse of time, when the para-clinical courses were started accommodation had to be provided for them. Initially they were located in the Simpson Buildings but later a three storied building was constructed to house the Clinical Biochemistry and laboratory for Micro biological investigations. Building for the Dept. of Forensic Medicine and a Mortuary was also constructed in the Government Hospital campus. Subsequently site was alienated from the P.R. Govt. College and a new block in which the departments of Pathology, Pharmacology and Central Library are now located, was built. Besides the above, the block has two big lecture galleries, each accommodating 300 students. Simultaneously with the expansion of the college, the Govt. General Hospital also was developed and today it has a bed strength of 890. In due course super specialties like Cardiology, Plastic Surgery, Neuro Surgery and Urology were organized both for the treatment of patients and purposes of teaching. With a view to provide field training to clinical students and internees, a rural health center was created at Gollalamamidada.

Management of the College:

The Medical Education Society which sponsored the Medical college constituted a governing body for the day to day administration of the college. Col. D.S. Raju, Sri M Harischandra Prasad and Dr. P.V.N. Raju acted as Presidents of the Governing body at different times and contributed a lot for the growth of the Institution.

Take Over by Andhra Pradesh Government:

The takeover of the privately managed Medical college by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1977 is a mile-stone in the history of the college. A special officer was appointed to administer the college and till March 1981 it got regular block grants. In April 1981 funds for the college were provided in the regular budget and the Rangaraya Medical College came to be one of the full fledged State Medical Colleges.