Lakshmi Narayana Mehra

Indian social reformer who modernized women's healthcare in 19th century Madras

Lakshmi Narayana Mehra (1832-1901) revolutionized women's healthcare in South India by establishing the first maternity hospital in Madras (now Chennai) in 1865. As a widow who defied societal norms to pursue medical training, she became one of India's earliest female physicians. Her Madras Maternity Hospital not only provided obstetric care but also trained local women as nurses and midwives using a mix of Ayurvedic and Western practices.

Mehra's innovative approach included mobile health units that reached rural areas, documented in her 1878 treatise Women's Health Across Castes. She faced significant opposition from traditional healers but gained support from British colonial officials through her statistical reports showing reduced maternal mortality. The hospital's original building still stands as part of the Chennai Medical College, where her portrait hangs in the obstetrics wing. Her work inspired later reformers like Pandita Ramabai, though her own writings remain largely untranslated from Tamil.