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Rosewalk Salutes- Rukhmabai: India’s First Practising Woman Doctor
Nov 22, 2017
At Rosewalk we firmly believe in Women Empowerment specially in India. As we all know, there are still many places in India where women are asked to stay at home, cook food and look after their kids and family. In India, it is often challenging for a woman to enjoy the same privileges as a man, especially when it comes to having a career. So we like to celebrate women who overcome societal obstacles to realise their dreams. Rukhmabai Raut is one such woman.
Rukhmabai Raut (Born Nov-22-1864) was the first practicing women doctor in India. While the first lady physician of India was Dr. Anandi Gopal Joshi, she could not practice for more than a year and so the credit of 1st practicing lady physician goes to Dr. Rukhmabai Raut, who joined her medical course in England in 1889 and returned to India in 1894.
Rukhmabai was born in Mumbai in 1864. She fell victim to child marriage at the age of 11, but she refused to move in with her 19-year-old husband. Instead she focused on her studies and her career never living with her husband.
She studied medicine in England from 1889-1894 and came back to India in 1894. She worked in Rajkot and Surat for almost 35 years as Chief Medical Officer before retiring.
We are honoring Rukhmabai on her 153rd Birthday along with Google who decided to put her on their Google Doodle with stethoscope around her neck and a busy hospital background.
Dr. Sunita Gupta
Consultant - Obstetrics and Gynecology
Panchsheel Park
