Rangaraya Medical College was started as a private medical college in 1958. It was the result of dedicated efforts by Dr M V Krishnarao, who was a Minister of Education in the cabinet of Sri Rajaji in the composite Madras state. He was later joined by Colonel Dr D S Raju, M R C P, who was a personal physician of Sri Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and later Deputy Minister of Defence and Health in the cabinet of Sri Jawaharlal Nehru.