In 1975 Andriukaitis started his
medical internship in Kaunas 3rd Hospital. Following the internship, he was denied the freedom to choose the hospital for
residency by security services due to his
anti-communist political involvement. He was offered to go to
Ignalina, where Andriukaitis spent eight years at Ignalina Central Hospital. He was under continuous pressure from the government, due to his involvement in underground political
resistance movement. Whilst in Ignalina, in 1979 he qualified in
general surgery at the
University of Vilnius; in 1980 he qualified in war surgery at
Riga Military Hospital, in 1982 in
abdominal surgery and in 1983 in
trauma and
orthopaedics surgery both at
Vilnius University. After being promoted to
surgeon (second category) in 1983, and due to demand for cardio-surgeons in Vilnius, Andriukaitis was able to relocate from Ignalina to Vilnius and was appointed
cardiac surgeon of Heart Surgery Centre at
Republican Clinical hospital in
Vilnius,
Lithuania. In 1987 he qualified in
heart and
vascular surgery at
Moscow Bakulev Cardiovascular Institute and in the same year he took part in the first
heart transplant in the history of Lithuania. In 1989 Andriukaitis was appointed cardiovascular surgeon (first category) and became a member of Lithuanian Doctors' Association (until 1996) and Lithuanian Heart Association. He was also a member of International Doctors' Association during 1998-2004. Andriukaitis practiced medicine until 1993, when new
constitutional laws forbade
Members of Parliament to take part in other non-parliamentary activities