At 103, India's First Female Cardiologist Is Still Fixing, And Winning Hearts

Dr Padmavati, who founded Delhi’s National Heart Institute, has a long and impressive legacy

- Shobita Dhar

Walk into the cardiac wing of any big hospital in India or even the US, and you’re likely to see men in blue scrubs poring over ECGs, or rushing to OTs to thread catheters through blocked arteries. This medical speciality, characterised by long working hours and high stress, has traditionally had a lopsided gender ratio. But despite these odds, one of India’s first cardiology departments was set up by a woman — the legendary Dr S I Padmavati.

Now 103 and retired from active practice, Dr Padmavati was working 12 hours a day, five days a week till late 2015 at the National Heart Institute in Delhi that she founded in 1981. She still comes to the institute once or twice a week to see some of her older patients.

So, what’s the secret to her longevity? Dr Padmavati credits it to her genes and disciplined lifestyle. “My mother lived to 105 and I followed her footsteps in adopting a healthy lifestyle. Remember, we are products of our environment,” she says.

Dr Vinod Sharma, senior cardiologist at NHI, says that despite her long innings, she rarely flags in energy. “We could get tired but not her. During the late 1990s and the early 2000s, she would sit with me till late at night to complete research papers and articles. Even today, whenever she comes to the hospital, she catches up with the latest medical journals and research. She’s well versed with technology and writes her own emails,” says Dr Sharma, who has worked under her as a resident doctor and a consultant.

Dr Padmavati was born in Rangoon in 1917 and completed her MBBS there. Her family moved to India to escape the Japanese invasion of Burma. In 1949, she travelled to the UK for higher studies in medicine, and became a fellow at the Royal College of Physicians, London, and the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh.