Mary Poonen Lukose
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A brief biography
Shaju Philip, Sep 24, 2024: The Indian Express
Mary Poonen Lukose, on September 23, 1924, became a member of the erstwhile Travancore Legislative Council, a predecessor of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. In doing so, she became the first woman member of a legislative council of an Indian princely state.
First woman doctor from Kerala
Mary Poonen was born on August 2, 1886, in an affluent family in the Aymanam village in present-day Kottayam district. Her father, T E Poonnen, was the first medical graduate in the princely state of Travancore, and had served as the royal physician. He had obtained his medical degree from Scotland’s Aberdeen University.
Mary grew up in Trivandrum (present-day Thiruvananthapuram). After completing her schooling, she decided to pursue further education in medicine. At the time, however, there were no women doctors or nurses in that part of modern-day Kerala. Mary’s application to the Maharaja’s College (now the University College Thiruvananthapuram) for science subjects was rejected on account of her being a woman.
Consequently, she enrolled for a course in history in the same college, eventually becoming the first woman graduate of the Madras University in 1909. But Mary still had her sights set on being a doctor. To this end, she moved to London and joined the Lonon University — women were still not allowed into medicine in India. After becoming the first woman from Kerala to obtain a medicine degree, she specialised further in gynaecology and obstetrics.
A trailblazing doctor
Dr Mary Poonen had a short stint as a physician in London during the early days of the Great War. But she returned to Travancore in 1916, following her father’s death. There she began working on the newly opened Women and Children Hospital in Trivandrum (now, the Government Women & Children Hospital, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram). In 1917, she married K K Lukose, a lawyer who later became a judge in the High Court of Travancore.
During her career in medicine, Dr Mary was a trailblazer, achieving many firsts and leading multiple pioneering initiatives. She performed the very first cesarean section operation in Kerala sometime before 1920. Often, she would operate with minimal equipment and under the light of kerosene lamps. She also initiated a midwifery training programme for children of local midwives, an initiative which led to safer births at homes, handled by professionals. In fact, many credit Dr Mary for popularising the services of midwives.
In 1924, she became the first woman to head the health department of Travancore. She served as the royal physician of the Travancore kings till 1942, and in 1938, became the first woman surgeon general of Travancore — by all accounts, the first woman surgeon general anywhere in the world. Many consider her to be one of the founders of Kerala’s much acclaimed healthcare system.
Member of legislative council
In 1922, the doors of the Travancore Legislative Council were opened for women for the very first time. This paved the way for the nomination of Dr Mary, which took place two years later when Queen Sethu Lakshmi Bai became the ruler of Travancore.
Dr Mary’s nomination was widely covered and much appreciated by the national press. As a member of the legislature, she was able to impact public health policy. She would continue to be re-elected until 1937. The Maharaja of Travancore, in the 1940s, conferred her with the title of Vaidyasasthrakusala.
In 1975, a year before her death at the age of 90, Dr Mary was honoured with the Padma Shri. The Kerala assembly has also lined up a slew of programmes next month to mark 100 years of Dr Mary’s swearing in as the first woman legislator in a council. A documentary on her will be released during the next session of the state Assembly.
