Born on this day (March 31) in 1865, Anandi Gopal Joshi was India's first female physician, who completed her studies in western medicine from United States.
Originally named Yamuna, in short Yamu, she was married at the age of nine to Gopalrao Joshi, a widower almost twenty years her senior. It was the tradition in orthodox Brahmin families at that time to get the girl married before she reached puberty.
After marriage, she was renamed 'Anandi'. Her husband was a postal clerk, but supported ànd encouraged his wife to study, an unusual gesture at that time.
At the age of fourteen, Anandibai gave birth to a boy, but the child lived only for ten days due to lack of medical care. This proved to be a turning point in Anandi's life and inspired her to become a physician.
In 1880, Gopalrao sent a letter to Royal Wilder, a well-known American missionary, stating his wife's interest in inquiring about a suitable post in the US for herself. Wilder published it in his Princeton's Missionary Review. Theodicia Carpenter, a resident of Roselle, New Jersey, happened to read it by chance.
Impressed by both Anandibai's desire to study medicine, and Gopalrao's support for his wife, she wrote to Anandibai. She developed a close friendship with Anandibai and hosted Anandibai during her stay in the U.S.
Carpenter received her in the US in June 1883. Anandibai wrote to the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, for admission to their medical program, which was the second women's medical programme in the world.
Anandibai began her medical training at age 19. In America, her health worsened because of the cold weather and unfamiliar diet. She contracted tuberculosis. Nevertheless, she graduated with an MD in March 1886.
Utilising references from both Ayurvedic texts and American medical textbooks, she wrote a thesis on the topic, "Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindoos." On graduation, Queen Victoria sent her a congratulatory message.
Anandibai returned to India in 1886, and the princely state of Kolhapur appointed her as the physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert Edward Hospital.
But Anandibai died of tuberculosis early the next year on 26 February 1887 before turning 22 in Pune, and her dream of opening her own medical college for women was left unfulfilled.
It's rightly said that virtuous people die at an early age, because God also wants them.
Her ashes were sent to Theodicia Carpenter, who placed them in her family cemetery in New York.
Despite practising medicine for only two to three months, Anandibai rose to fame due to her sheer determination and hardwork.
She became the first Indian female to study western medicine, at a time when there was utter lack of women doctors and medical facilities in India.
--Kaushal Kishore
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