Dr. V. Shanta

#18/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

Dr. V. Shanta was born in a distinguished scientific family of India in Chennai. Despite the fact that she comes from a family of scientists and Nobel laureates – S. Chandrasekhar and Dr. C.V. Raman, who are her maternal uncle and grand uncle, respectively – Dr. Shanta decided to become a doctor, inspired by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, the first woman medical graduate in the country. She graduated (M.B.B.S.) in 1949, D.G.O. in 1952 and M.D, in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 1955. In April 1955, she joined the fledgling Cancer Institute, established in 1954 by the Womens' Indian Association Cancer Relief Fund, as its Resident Medical Officer in preference to the Asst. Surgeon's Post in the Women & Children's Hospital, Madras, to which she had been selected by the Madras Public Service Commission. Dr. V. Shanta is a prominent Cancer specialist and the Chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. She has been associated with Adyar since 1955, and has held several key positions, including its Director between 1980-1997. She is a member of the World Health Organisation's Advisory Committee on Health and several other national and international committees on health and medicine. Her career has included organizing care for cancer patients and research in the prevention and cure of the disease. Her work won several awards including the Magsaysay Award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by Government of India. She is also the member of Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission for Health.

Dr. V. Shanta was born on March 11, 1927 at Mylapore, Chennai in a Iyer family. Her family includes Nobel Laureates C.V. Raman and S. Chandrasekar. She did her schooling from National Girls High School (now P.S. Sivaswamy Higher Secondary School) and had always wanted to become a Doctor. She completed her graduation from Madras Medical College in 1949, and her M.D. in 1955. When Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy set up the Cancer Institute in 1954, Dr. Shanta then had just finished her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.). She also got through the Public Service Commission examination and was posted to the Women and Children Hospital. She decided to join the Cancer Institute instead, upsetting many people. The institute began with a single building and a cluster of huts with minimal equipment and two doctors, Dr. Shanta and Dr. Krishnamurthi. For three years she worked as honorary staff after which, the Institute offered to pay her Rs. 200 per month and residence within the campus. She moved into the campus and has remained there ever since. Recalling her early years, Dr. Shanta says that for her the biggest take away from her teachers and family was to be selfless in her profession – “from them I learnt the principle ‘to give and not take’.” Joining the cancer ward of the local government hospital was the big turning point of her professional career.

And today, she is carrying forward this legacy as the Chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute – founded by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy – that has grown from a 12-bed, two-doctor cottage hospital to an institution that has a reputation for providing subsidised treatment to the poor. Dr. Shanta believes that “lack of awareness and a sense of complacency borne out of fear”, especially among the underprivileged communities, is behind the escalating number of cancer cases, particularly those of women suffering from cervical and breast cancer. Of course, cancer treatment and care-giving has come a long way. Vividly recalling her early years in this field, she explains, “Surgery and radio therapy were the only options available for patients at the time. As detection of cancer was not an easy job, we inevitably got patients at an advanced stage, and many of them did not opt for radiotherapy because of the extreme side effects. There used to be some level of exploitation of patients as well and that was why Dr. Muthulakshmi and Dr. Krishnamurthy stepped in to set up a separate wing for cancer care.” Having stepped into the shoes of her mentor and his mother, Dr. Shanta found that running a cancer hospital was no simple feat. There have been many tough moments along the way, “Everyone imagines that the hospital is well established so it would be easy to run. Few people know of the difficulties that we face internally. Fund crunch is the biggest hurdle when it comes to providing quality service and we are struggling to get donations to meet our basic minimum costs.”

In an era when specialised medical care in India has become highly commercialised, Dr. Shanta strives to ensure that the Institute remains true to its ethos, ‘Service to all’. Its services are free or subsidised for some 60 per cent of its 100,000 annual patients, eighty-nine-year-old Shanta still sees patients, still performs surgery, and is still on call twenty-four hours a day. Over the years, the good doctor has cared for her patients with a lot of patience and dedication – and her tireless service has not gone unnoticed. In 2005, she was conferred with the Ramon Magsaysay Award, better known as the Nobel Prize of Asia, and in 2006, the Indian government feted her very recently with the Padma Vibhushan (2016), the second highest civilian award in the land. Apart from that Dr. Shanta is also a recipient of the Padma Shri Award in 1986 and the Padma Bhushan in 2005. But she doesn’t plan to rest on her laurels and has a word of advice for her young colleagues. “I have worked to the best of my ability in cancer care based on ethics, values and, importantly, respect for human life. Doctors must learn to treat their patients as human beings and not as mere commodities. One must have pride in one’s profession and see it as a mission,” she signs off. 

Source: Google search and Wikipedia.