K. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, eminent plastic and reconstructive surgeon and pioneer of burn care in South India, died in Chennai on Monday (October 27, 2025) due to complications of old age, a note from her family said. She was 91.
Born in 1934, Prof. Mathangi completed her MBBS from Madras Medical College, Chennai. She pursued her advanced training in plastic and reconstructive surgery in the United Kingdom and in Maryland, United States.
She established the plastic surgery department and burns unit at Government Kilpauk Medical College (KMC), Chennai — one of the foremost government centres in India dedicated to comprehensive burn care and rehabilitation, and one that continues to remain Tamil Nadu’s nodal government burns unit.
Avvaiyar Award for Mathangi Ramakrishnan
Prof. Mathangi retired from government service as professor and head of the department of burns, plastic, and reconstructive surgery, at KMC. She was also an emeritus professor of plastic surgery at the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University and an emeritus scientist at the Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai.
