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Motibai Kapadia

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Motibai Rustomji Kapadia
LRCP FRCS
Born1867
Mumbai
Died1930
EducationGrant Medical College, Mumbai
Known forFirst Indian female graduate of Grant Medical College
Medical career
ProfessionPhysician
InstitutionsVictoria Jubilee Hospital for women, Ahmedabad, Bombay Presidency
AwardsKaisar-i-Hind Medal (1911)

Motibai Rustomji Kapadia (1867–1930) LRCP FRCS, is credited as the first Indian female physician in Western medicine to have trained alongside men in India. In 1884 she gained admission to Grant Medical College, Mumbai, from where she graduated. After gaining her Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) she was appointed to head the Victoria Jubilee Hospital for women in Ahmedabad. In 1891, she qualified FRCS.

In 1911 Kapadia received the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in the 1911 Delhi Durbar Honours following the Coronation of George V and Mary.

Early life and education[edit]

Old Grant Medical College building, 1860.

Motibai Kapadia was born in 1867 in Mumbai, then Bombay, into a wealthy Parsi family.[1][2] In 1884, with permission from her father and despite opposition from others she knew,[3] Kapadia gained admission to Mumbai's Grant Medical College through the Dufferin Fund.[1][4][5][a] She travelled to England and received the LRCP in 1888, along with Rattonbai Malabari.[1][4][5][b] She has been credited with being the first Indian female physician in Western medicine to have trained alongside men in India, and Grant's first Indian female graduate.[4][7][8]

Career[edit]

Dr Motibai Rustomji Kapadia Public Hall for Women (21 February 1928)

In 1889, after returning from Britain, Kapadia was appointed in charge of the Victoria Jubilee Hospital and its dispensary in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, then in Bombay Presidency.[6][9] There, she was a well known lady doctor,[10] who acclomplished good work,[11] and remained in that post for 36 years.[12] In 1891, she qualified FRCS.[3] In 1897, she was chosen to represent the Ladies Club at Ahmedabad to deliver the draft English address in preparation for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[13][14]

Later life[edit]

Kapadia later travelled back to Britain, after which she returned to India on the SS Devanha in 1921.[15] According to Canadian educator Geraldine Forbes, Western medicine expanded in Bengal as a result of hospital assistants who trained in that field by physicians from Bombay that included Kapadia.[16]

Awards[edit]

On 12 December 1911 Kapadia received the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in the 1911 Delhi Durbar Honours following the Coronation of George V and Mary.[17][18]

Death and legacy[edit]

Kapdia died in 1930.[2] Historian Makrand Mehta credits Kapadia as a significant influencer of Gujarat.[2] Author Kavitha Rao considered Kapadia notable enough to include her in her book Lady Doctors, though omitted her due to being unable to find enough archival material on her.[19]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ 62 women were admitted to Grant in the six years preceding 1892.[6]
  2. ^ Assistant Professor in sociology, Anisha Sen, and others give the date of Kapadia's LRCP as 1887,[4][3] though the Eastern Evening News of 6 February 1888 reported that she was still to receive it, along with Malabari, who was also from Grant's.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Bhadra, Mita (2011). "Indian Women in Medicine: An Enquiry Since 1880". Indian Anthropologist. 41 (1): 17–43. ISSN 0970-0927.
  2. ^ a b c "Gujarat's first lady doctor treated sexism and untouchability too". The Times of India. 18 May 2013. Archived from the original on 12 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c The Journal of Family Welfare. Family Planning Association of India. 1975. p. 68.
  4. ^ a b c d Sen, Anisha (2023). "Breaking Barriers and Forging Paths: Examining the Entry of Women in the Field of Medicine" (PDF). Scope. 13 (4): 1101.
  5. ^ a b c "Memoirs from a woman's notebook". Eastern Evening News. 6 February 1888. p. 3. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ a b "Latest News". The Scotsman. 28 January 1892. p. 5. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India's First Women in Medicine. Westland Publications Private Limited. 2021. p. xiv. ISBN 978-93-90679-05-8.
  8. ^ Abidi, Nigar Fatima (September 1988). "Women's participation in the medical profession: the Indian case". International Sociology. 3 (3): 235–249. doi:10.1177/026858088003003003. ISSN 0268-5809.
  9. ^ Ramanna, Mridula (2008). "Women Physicians as Vital Intermediaries in Colonial Bombay". Economic and Political Weekly. 43 (12/13): 71–78. ISSN 0012-9976.
  10. ^ Darukhanawala, H. D. (1953). Parsi Lustre On Indian Soil Vol Ii. p. 132.
  11. ^ "The Countess of Dufferin's Fund (1911)". National Association For Supplying Female Medical Aid To The Women Of India Twenty-fifth Annual Report. India: Superintendent Government Printing. 1909. p. 9.
  12. ^ Lahiri, Shompa (2000). "Introduction". Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880-1930. London: Frank Cass Publishers. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-7146-4986-4.
  13. ^ India Office Library and Records. “Report on Native Papers for the Week Ending June 19, 1897.” Report on Native Papers for the Week Ending ..., June 19, 1897. https://jstor.org/stable/saoa.crl.25636183.
  14. ^ "Ladies Club". Homeward Mail from India, China and the East County. London. 5 July 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archives.
  15. ^ "UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960". ancestry.co.uk. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archive. 15 July 1921. p. 21. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via Ancestry.com.
  16. ^ Ramanna, Mridula (2012). "3. Changing reactions to hospitalisation". Health Care in Bombay Presidency, 1896-1930. Delhi: Primus Books. p. 103. ISBN 978-93-80607-24-5.
  17. ^ Who's who in India. Lucknow: Newul Kishore Press. 1912. p. 180. ISBN 978-5-87230-125-7.
  18. ^ "UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939". The India Office List India. 1911. p. 193. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via Ancestry.com.}
  19. ^ Narayanan, Nayantara (8 July 2021). ""There's a lot of blood, sweat and tears": The price that India's first women doctors paid to break barriers". caravanmagazine.in. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2024.

External links[edit]

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