The contributions of Indian doctors, in coping with public health challenges in colonial Mumbai, is immense. These physicians were vital intermediaries in treating the smallpox, cholera, plague and other epidemics in the nineteenth century and in preventing tuberculosis and malaria in the twentieth century. The other public health challenge was the high maternal and infant mortality rates. While Indian philanthropy established obstetric facilities, the numbers of patients were few, because an average Indian woman would not dream of showing herself to a male doctor, and the very idea of hospitalisation for something as ‘domestic’ as childbirth was unheard. This is where Indian women doctors played a significant role. At our Online Talk #IndiansToTheFore, historian Dr. Mridula Ramanna talks about the role these doctors played in the public healthcare system of Mumbai during the colonial period.

About the speaker

Mridula Ramanna completed her B.A.(Honours) and M.A. from Delhi University and Ph. D. from the University of Mumbai. She has authored several books on public healthcare in Mumbai, her latest being Bombay Presidency, 1850-1920: Disease, Sanitation and Public Health Personalities, published in 2024. She has sixty three publications including chapters in edited volumes, and in peer reviewed journals. She has been the recipient of the Rockefeller Residency, Rockefeller Archive Centre, New York, and of research grants from The Wellcome Trust, London. She has presented papers at several international seminars.