Sarada Menon, India’s first woman psychiatrist, dies at 98 in Chennai
Born in Mangaluru, Sarada Menon graduated from the Madras Medical College and trained in psychiatry in Bengaluru’s NIMHANS
Sarada Menon, considered India’s first woman psychiatrist, passed away at the age of 98 at her home in Chennai on Sunday. She has been a recipient of several awards, including the Padma Bhusan in 1992 for her work in the field of mental health.
Born in Mangaluru, Menon graduated from the Madras Medical College and trained in psychiatry in Bengaluru’s NIMHANS. She became the first woman psychiatrist in the country when she began working in 1959 at what is now the Institute of Mental Health (previously government Kilpauk mental hospital) in Chennai. She held the post of superintendent of the institute for more than 18 years. Soon after her retirement, Menon founded the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) in 1984. SCARF has been affiliated with the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a collaborating centre for mental health research and training since 1996, and it continues to be a premier NGO offering treatment and rehabilitation for those with mental illness and support for their caregivers. She stepped down from her position in 1995 and remained an advisor.
Psychiatrist Dr R Thara, who took over as SCARF’s director and was among the founding health professionals, said, “She brought in terrific changes.”
Menon changed it from an asylum into a place where she recruited volunteers and social workers and was instrumental in ensuring there were psychiatric outpatient wards in government hospitals. Dr Thara says late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa held Menon in high regard, which helped SCARF receive an annual grant from the state government and land to construct SCARF’s daycare centre and residential facilities.
“We got together in 1984 and started SCARF. Her primary motivation was the rehabilitation of the mentally ill which she felt was a neglected aspect,” says Thara. “The other was a stigma. She felt one way of beating stigma was by employing persons who have recovered – the mentally ill. She was also particular that families need support, so we simultaneously work with them by providing information and emotional support.”
Those who have worked with Menon say that she continued to actively monitor patients even until recently. Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, the founder of SNEHA Foundation, a suicide prevention helpline and a student of Menon’s, says that she attended a meeting in Chennai three months ago to be up to speed on the latest research on the gut microbiome in the mental health field. “It was mind-boggling. She was 98 and still wanted to learn. She asked all relevant questions at the meeting,” says Dr Vijayakumar. She adds that she didn’t enjoy psychiatry until Menon took a class. “Her class was an eye-opener for me. Most psychiatrists in Chennai are her students. She taught us in college even after her retirement.”
Condoling her death, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin recalled Menon had studied in the Madras Medical College. “Her demise is a loss to the medical profession,” he said in a statement.