Thiruvananthapuram: Unable to cope with the loss of fame and practice, renowned urologist and kidney transplant surgeon George P Abraham, 75, allegedly committed suicide by hanging at his farmhouse in Kochi. The police, who recovered a note from the farmhouse, said he died by suicide.

He was suffering from depression after being diagnosed with various diseases that affected his work, the FIR registered by the police said. The death happened between 7.30 pm and 10.30 pm on Sunday.

He is the third surgeon in the world to have performed a living donor laparoscopic renal transplant and first in Kerala to perform percutaneous nephrolithotomy, a minimally invasive surgery that removes kidney stones, and a Lap Donor Nephrectomy 3D laparoscopy, a robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove a kidney from a living donor.

A senior renal transplant surgeon at Kochi’s VPS Lakeshore Hospital, Dr George had performed Kerala’s first cadaver transplant. He had performed around 3,600 renal transplant surgeries —the highest in the state. His suicide has left the medical fraternity in shock.

The suicide note recovered by the police said age had seriously affected his work and that he was missing all the fame he once enjoyed. He had undergone a spine surgery around six months ago, hospital sources said.

“One of the thorough gentlemen in the field of urology, a great teacher, surgeon and pioneer in the field of laparoscopic urology. We will all miss you,” Dr Arun Kumar, consultant urologist and managing director of Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology, Chennai, posted on X.