Dossibai Rustomji Cowasji PatellMBE, MRCP (16 October 1881 – 4 February 1960), later known as Dossibai Jehangir Ratenshaw Dadabhoy, was an Indian obstetrician and gynaecologist, who in 1910 became the first woman to become a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS).
After completing initial medical training in India, she spent six years in London studying for the MRCS (Eng), LRCP, MRCP, MB BS and finally MD.
Upon return to India, she established a career in obstetrics and gynaecology, advocated maternal and child welfare centres and petitioned for reducing infant mortality. In this role, she became active in a variety of societies, becoming the president of first the Bombay Obstetric and Gynaecological Society and later of the Association of Medical Women in India.
The Dossibai J. R. Dadabhoy oration is given in her memory.
Patell came from Navsara Chambers, Fort Bombay, India.[4] In 1903, she completed her medical training at Grant Medical College, Bombay,[3] from where she gained her Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery.[5] She then assisted Sir Temulji Nariman and Dr. Masina in Bombay before persuading her parents to allow her to study abroad.[2]
Life in London
Patell spent four years studying at the Royal Free Hospital (London School of Medicine for Women) [6] and in May 1910, became the first woman to become a member (MRCS) of the Royal College of Surgeons,[1][7] four years after women were allowed to sit the MRCS exam.[8] In the same year she became the first woman licentiate (LRCP) of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).[9][10][11] She also became a Bachelor of Medicine[12] and Bachelor of Surgery[13] (MB BS) of the University of London in 1910. In 1911 she became a member of the RCP,[14] three years after women were permitted to sit its exam and one year after Ivy Evelyn Woodward became the first woman member of the college.[15][16]
Dossibai Patell amidst a group at the London School of Tropical Medicine, c. 1912[1]Cama Hospital
Upon return to India in 1912, as Dossibai Jehangir Ratenshaw Dadabhoy[17][19][20] she began a career in obstetrics and gynaecology, taking a particular interest in gynaecological malignancies. As a result, she was the first person in India to purchase, possess[3] and distribute radium.[2]
In 1924, she presented a paper on infant mortality, stating her opinion that more than two thirds of infant deaths were preventable and petitioned for reducing these fatalities. She also considered maternal mortality and advocated supervision throughout pregnancy and childbirth and the forming of maternal and child welfare centres.[21]
She co-founded the Bombay Obstetric and Gynaecological Society, becoming its honorary joint secretary and later its president. She worked to establish other such societies across India which came together to form the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, of which she also became president.[3]
In 2018, Patell, along with the RCP's first female member, Ivy Evelyn Woodward, featured in the RCP's 500 year celebratory exhibition "This Vexed Question: 500 years of women in medicine".[26]
Selected publications
"Infant Mortality, its causes and how to Remedy it" in Report of the All India Social Service Conference. Bombay: Servants of India Society, 1924. pp. 65–75.
"Presidential Address"Archived 30 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, at the 8th All India Obstetrics & Gynaecology Congress, Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of India, Vol. V, No. 4, June 1955.
