Patnala Tejeswar Rao was born on 3 September 1934 in Ganjam, Orissa, India. He was the fifth child and third son of Mrutyunjaya Patro Patnala, a bullion merchant, and his wife Gunnamma Patnala. After attending Hari Har High School in Kuarmunda he studied medicine at the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack and Utkal University in Bhubaneswar and graduated MB, BS in 1958. He travelled to the UK where he did house jobs at the Hatfield General Hospital, Derbyshire Royal Infirmary and Walton Hospital in Liverpool. In 1962 he passed the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the following year he passed the fellowship of the college. On his return to India he eventually became professor and head of orthopaedics at the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack and director of medical education and training for the government of Orissa. Outside medicine he enjoyed photography and going to the cinema. He married Vijaya Lakshmi in 1965 and they had a daughter and two sons. She survived him when he died from heart and lung disorders on 31 January 2010 aged 75.