Celebrating 153rd birthday of India’s first Lady Doctor

Dr. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi was the first female doctor of India. Not only this, she was just 19 when she became a doctor. She was born on 31 March 1865 and got married at the age of 9. At the age of fourteen, Anandibai gave birth to a boy, but the child lived only for ten days because the medical care necessary for his survival was unavailable. This situation proved to be a turning point in Anandibai’s life, and inspired her to become a physician. Her husband supported women education and he persuaded her to study medicine.

She earned her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as Drexel University College of Medicine, and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women. She was the first woman of Indian origin to study and graduate with a two-year diploma in medicine in the United States.