The college aims to provide quality medical education to fulfil the needs of the society as per its socio-economic structure as enunciated in the core principles,.The college believes that its alumni should not only be efficient doctors who are proficient in the art and science of allopathic medicine but also good human beings with high moral and ethical standards.The college believes that the doctors it trains not be viewed as gods but friends the patient can trust and open up to receive the best medical care.The college aims to inculcate a spirit of dedication along with scientific excellence, commitment and clinical acumen in tandem, compassion over passion, and empathy in addition to sympathy.The college believes in the all-round development of the young adults who will be graduating as mature professionals to shoulder the responsibilities of a care giver whom the society respects as an intellectual.The college strongly believes that it has a responsible role to provide high-quality health care to the society through a well-equipped, and well-staffed modern tertiary care hospital with a personal touch.The college believes the human face of medical care is not lost in the gadgetry and mechanisation of modern medical care.All in all, Rangaraya Medical College aims to contribute efficient, ethical and responsible clinicians who are model citizens committed to deliver holistic health care and be worthy of the people’s trust.

Dr. Datla Satyanarayana Raju and Dr. M. V. Krishna Rao had been dreaming of starting a private medical college to cater to the students of coastal Andhra Pradesh, particularly Godavari districts. They founded and registered the Medical Education Society on 16 April 1958. The objectives were of promoting medical education, research and relief through voluntary effort. They started collecting donations assisted by Dr. I. Joga Rao, P.V.N. Raju, K. Chandra Rao, A. Perisastry, B. Venkata Raju and Dr. P.R. Hari.

Mullapudi Harishchandra Prasad of Sri Mullapudi Venkata Rayudu Memorial Educational Trust of Tanuku offered a donation of Rs. 500,000. The college was named after his late brother-in-law Sri. Pendyala Ranga Rao, zamindar of Dommeru. He became the vice president of the society. Sri Kotamarthi Venkanna gifted 6.5 acres of land, now called Kotamarthi Park on which stands the present men’s hostels. Sri Draksharama Choultry Trust gave a donation of ₹50,000 towards construction of a lecture hall.

Rao Venkata Kumara Mahipati Surya Rau, the Maharaja of Pithapuram, leased the palatial orphanage buildings (now the Main Campus) to house the Medical College. Two lecture halls and a dissection hall were constructed.

The Rangaraya Medical College was inaugurated on 17 November 1958 by Sri. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. One hundred students were admitted in the first year. Their teaching work for first MBBS was initiated on 15 August 1958 by Dr. V. S. Krishna, vice chancellor of Andhra University. The idea was conceived on 24 February by Col. D.S. Raju and his associates. The society was formed on 16 April; the first lecture was delivered by Dr. Moturu Bhanu Sankar Prasad on 17 September.

Prominent among them in the medical field during 1958 were Col. Dr. D.S. Raju and Dr. M.V. Krishna Rao.

While Col. Raju was engaged in the task of collecting donations to the proposed Medical College, Dr. M.V. Krishna Rao did the spade work for the starting of the institution. The then municipal chairman Sri Dantu Bhaskara Rao heartily cooperated with the endeavour, with the result the starting of a medical college, which was till then an ambition, became a reality.

Sri Draksharama Choultry Trust represented by the Pydah family gave a donation of ₹50,000 with which a lecture hall was constructed. Many other people contributed smaller donations amounting to about ₹2.5 lakhs.

The Government General Hospital would serve as the teaching hospital. Within 21/2 months two lecture halls and a dissection hall were constructed and ready for occupation. The formal inauguration of the Rangaraya Medical College was done on 17 November 1958 by Sri. N. Sanjeeva Reddy, the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The paraclinical departments, the central library, and two more lecture galleries were constructed opposite to the hospital. The hospital began to see expansion in the late 1960s and 1970s.

In the year 1977 Government of Andhra Pradesh took over the privately managed RMC. In 1981 Rangaraya Medical College became a full-fledged Government Medical College.

More recently the college and hospital have seen numerous changes. Two exam halls capable of accommodating almost 400 people were constructed in 2002. A new lecture gallery for the Department of physiology was constructed behind the exam halls.

The volleyball and basketball court were renovated with flood lights. New tennis courts were constructed and are being used to provide tennis coaching by the East Godavari District Tennis Association. The badminton court flooring was renovated.

During golden jubilee celebrations of the college the auditorium was renovated with air-conditioning and new sound system facilities — making it one-of-a-kind among the auditoriums of its sister colleges in the state. A medical exhibition was organised by students and staff after almost 25 years which attracted huge crowds from the beginning to the end of the event. During the golden jubilee celebrations the RMCANA (Rangaraya Medical College Alumni Association of North America) helped construct a new digital library with internet facilities and free access to world-renowned medical journals.

Sports and cultural festivals were conducted involving colleges around the state, the most recent one being “NEXUS” conducted in 2010.The statue of Hippocrates at the entrance of the college is symbolic of the dedication towards the art and science of medicine shown by everyone who passes through it.

A statue of Hippocrates (the father of medicine) was erected near the entrance of college which gives a new identity to the college on the map of Kakinada. More recently a clock tower was constructed in front of the auditorium.Hippocrates statue at night

The Government General Hospital that serves as the teaching hospital has seen considerable change. A new casualty block was constructed to manage the increasing flow of patients. Several superspecialty departments are being created and their offices are being constructed in the renovated 2nd floor of the main OP building.

A new hostel for internees was constructed as superspecialty departments were being housed in the old internees hostel at the OP Building. New blocks for Antenatal wards and Pre-op gynecology wards were constructed adjacent to the existing Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics departments. New buildings were constructed to house the ENT, Ophthalmology and Psychiatry departments and their respective Operation Theaters. An ART (Anti Retroviral Therapy) center which caters to the special needs of patients affected with the HIV virus was moved to a new building. It is one of the largest of its kind in India based on the patient volume served giving it a vital role in affecting the epidemiology of HIV in India.

Neonatology course was added by MCI in 2012 making it the first medical college in Andhra Pradesh and eighth in the India to provide D.M. Neonatology