Trained at the North Middlesex Hospital during 1930-32 as a general surgeon, he also practised neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. He became a frequent visitor to European and Russian clinics, attending surgical conferences, and was one of the early visitors to Moscow, when brain operations were carried out under local anaesthetics. He was keen to see surgical training in India raised to the standards of the UK or the USA and his efforts in this direction were tireless. He made many generous gifts to some of the medical colleges in Southern India, and many Indian students have cause to feel grateful for his anonymous gifts, which helped to pay their passage money to the UK or the entire expenses of their studies. Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, said of him, "I am deeply grieved to learn of Dr Baliga's death. He was a brilliant surgeon and a good man, devoted to good causes for which he subscribed liberally. As a president of the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society, he laboured for strengthening friendship between India and the Soviet Union. His sudden death has deprived India of a distinguished surgeon and a patriot of great merit and accomplishment." Baliga practised at Patel Chambers, Sandhurst Bridge, Bombay, but died in London on 19 May 1964 after attending a surgical congress in Vienna. He was survived by his wife.