A life-saving effort

USHA JESUDASAN

Dr.Kamala Vytilingam was the first woman to specialise in cardiology. A tribute to the pioneer on her birth centenary.

It is hard to imagine that there was a time when patients who went to hospital with cardiac problems had to be turned away because the doctors did not how to treat them. Today, when a patient goes to a medical centre with a cardiac problem, not only is it possible to diagnose the problem, but provide the best and the most modern treatment.

Much of this is due to the tireless efforts of Dr. Kamala Vytilingam — the mother of cardiology in India.

The year was 1918. There was a severe drought in the country and cholera and influenza were spreading like wild fire. Women and children in the rural areas were the most affected and there were very few women doctors. There was a great need for women in medicine, but few families were happy sending their girls away from home to train as doctors.

Dr Ida Scudder, the missionary founder of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, went around several districts of the Madras Presidency talking to girls who had completed schooling, about the urgent need for women doctors. Dr.Scudder persuaded the girls to undergo the LMP medical training course at Vellore. One of them who was inspired and took up the challenge was Kamala Vytilingam.

Born in 1901, Kamala was eight when her mother died, refusing to be attended by a male doctor. Her mother had wished that Kamala should take up medicine so that other women do not suffer the same fate.

Inspired by Dr Scudder's talk, Kamala came to Vellore on a scholarship. On completion of her medical training, she worked in a small women's hospital at Palamkottai, and later on at Lady Wellingdon Medical School for Women in Madras.

Dr. Kamala always put service before self. While in Palamkottai, the hospital was once flooded with water due to heavy rains. Dr. Kamala along with the attenders and nurses waded her way through knee-deep water carrying the patients to a safer place.

In 1925, she returned to Vellore as a lecturer in Anatomy. During this period, she also worked in small roadside clinics, where patients came with congenital cardiac complaints, and had to be turned away as there was no proper treatment available. Returning to her room every night, Kamala would be depressed over her helplessness in sending away even children without any treatment. Hence, she decided to specialise in cardiology and wanted to set up a department of cardiology in Vellore. Following her example, many students of medicine preferred to go in for specialisation and the Vellore College started new streams of study.

In 1945, Kamala became the first woman in India to get her M.D in General Medicine from the Madras Medical College. Yet, it was not easy for her to establish herself in the male-dominated field.

A few years at the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, U.S.A, gave her the experience and the opportunity to select the equipment required to start a cardiac unit at Vellore. Though cardiac surgery was being performed in Vellore Medical College, Dr. Kamala was the first to perform the cardiac catheterisation and angio procedure in India in the 1950s. The cardiac catherisation laboratory became fully operational under her guidance. A weekly cardio-thoracic consultation used to be held, where every patient was examined clinically and the data made available helped doctors and students in a better understanding of cardiac problems.

However, the focus of kamala's interest was congenital heart disease. She was also actively involved in teaching. Over the years, as head of the department, Dr. Kamala Vytilingam trained many students, who remember her as a gentle and affectionate person. She treated every patient, rich or poor with the same compassion and care. She also started the first Paediatric Cardiology unit in India.

For her pioneering work, Dr. Kamala Vytilingam received many honours both in India and abroad. She was a good orator too. The modern day cardiologists owe immensely to this courageous woman.

USHA JESUDASAN

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