Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

Indian social reformer who modernized healthcare and founded India's first school for midwives

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur: Pioneer of Modern Healthcare in India

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (1889-1974) transformed India's healthcare system through her visionary leadership in women's health and public sanitation. Daughter of a princely ruler, she abandoned her privileged life to work with Mahatma Gandhi's independence movement, focusing on improving rural healthcare.

In 1919, she established the All India Nursing Council, creating standardized training for nurses. Her most impactful achievement was founding the Lady Hardinge Medical College in 1916, India's first institution training female midwives - a radical move in a society where childbirth was considered a private family matter.

As India's first Health Minister (1947-1951), she oversaw the construction of 150 rural hospitals and introduced the National Health Policy that prioritized maternal and child health. Her advocacy for family planning decades before it became mainstream earned her international recognition from the WHO. The nursing award bearing her name remains India's highest honor in healthcare.