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New Delhi: At 93, she still does the rounds of the
hospital she founded. S.I. Padmavati, India's first woman
cardiologist, says cardiology is a very demanding field that was
keeping women away, but things are changing.
Padmavati, chief consultant in cardiology at National Heart
Institute, said: "There is no routine, no fixed hours.. it is a
very demanding field... so not many women choose to become
cardiologists.
"But things are changing now, many women are coming forward as
heart specialists," Padmavati told IANS in an interview.
According to 2010 figures from the American College of Cardiology,
"women still account for less than 20 percent of all cardiologists
in the US. A 2009 census carried out by the Royal College of
Physicians in the UK in three territories revealed that a mere 90
of the 766 cardiologists were females, or in other words not more
than 11. 75 percent.
The situation is not very different in India, though there is no
compiled data available.
Padmavati says she never felt any sense of discrimination.
"All my male colleagues were very cooperative. In fact, I must say
there is little discrimination in India. There was more antagonism
against women in the West at the time. There it was tough even for
a woman to get into a medical school," she said.
The veteran led the group of doctors that founded the National
Heart Institute, and is the founder president of the All India
Heart Foundation.
Born in Myanmar, Padmavati did her MBBS from Rangoon Medical
College, followed by an FRCP from Royal College of Physicians,
London and FRCPE from Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
She later shifted to the US.
She came to India only in 1953 and joined as a lecturer in Lady
Hardinge Medical College, where she set up the cardiology clinic.
"When I joined Lady Hardinge, all women there were British. There
was nothing in the cardiology department and we had to set it up.
After that I also set up a cardiology department in GB Pant
Hospital. We got Rs.5 lakh for setting up the cardiology
department, today Rs.5 lakh is nothing," said Padmavati.
Her list of degrees includes a cardiology course in Sweden, a
fellowship in John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore and Harvard Medical
School.
Talking about the old days, she recalled how in 1981, then prime
minister Indira Gandhi had come to inaugurate the National Heart
Institute despite the day being Rajiv Gandhi's birthday, Aug 20.
"Indira Gandhi was a very approachable woman, and a great leader.
I just asked her and she agreed to inaugurate the institute even
though it was on 20th Aug, Rajiv Gandhi's birthday," the doctor
said.
"Politicians in those days were very approachable. You cannot
think of the same now. I settled in India because of Rajkumari
Amrit Kaur," she said.
Kaur was the health minister of India for ten years after
independence.
Talking about the incidence of heart disease among women, the
veteran said the number of women heart patients across the world
is huge, even though the common perception is the opposite.
"It is commonly believed that women are safe from heart diseases.
But the fact is that more women die due to heart disease than
breast cancer or cervical cancer," said Padmavati.
World Heart Day 2012, Sep 29, focuses on women and children as the
theme for this year.
"More than 35 million women die of heart problems, and five
million die of breast cancer. The difference is that women develop
heart problems at a later age and the symptoms are different as
well," she said.
"Women have more atypical symptoms - vague chest and abdominal
pain, tiredness, vomiting, rather than the typical picture of
cardiac pain which men experience. By the time they realise it is
a warning of heart attack, it is too late," Padmavati said.
"Many times, the blockage in women's arteries is not visible in
angiography. The reason is that while men usually have blockage in
the major arteries, women have blockage in smaller arteries which
does not get detected," she said, and added that a lot of research
is needed in women's cardiology.
Asked if heart problem in women has increased over the years, the
doctor said awareness has increased, helping more cases be
reported.
(Anjali Ojha can be contacted at anjali.o@ians.in)
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