Dr. T. S. Kanaka

#57/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

When Thanjavur Santhanakrishnan Kanaka, more popularly known as T.S. Kanaka, opted for a career in neurosurgery way back in the 1960s, little did she realise that she was embarking on a challenging journey. It was a struggle back then as she broke the male bastion several times over, first as a student and later as a surgeon. “Getting a master's degree in general surgery was not easy for me,” Dr. Kanaka recalls with a sparkle in her eyes. “Women were never admitted to master's programme in general surgery. Two other women had been admitted to the M.S. general surgery simply because they had won the Johnson Medal (the highest recognition for a student at Madras Medical College). While one went on to become an anatomy professor, the other never practised. When I applied for the MS programme, I was told I would never be accepted.”

Kanaka was one of eight children born to Santhanakrishna and Padmavathi in Madras on March 31, 1932. Her father was the Deputy Director of Public Instruction and Principal of Madras Teachers College. Despite an urge to pursue spiritual studies in her early years, she went on to study medicine. Born in an era when women were not even allowed to pursue their studies, the young doctor was taking the bold steps towards getting a master’s degree in surgery. No words can explain her struggle to make her mark in this highly male dominated profession.She once explained in an interview, “I was born along with four sisters and three brothers of which only one sister is alive, apart from me. All of them were highly educated. Given that we belonged to 40s and 50s, it’s a huge thing. My youngest sibling was Amarnath who died at a very young age. He, being the last one, was the dearest to the family. So, I have named this house after him. I didn’t want to get married because I wanted to involve myself completely into my profession. My mother understood my situation and accepted it. But my father, like any other father, wanted to get me married. But you see, back then the crucial decisions of the family belonged to the woman of the family. They appeared as subordinates but always the woman’s words went in the house. These days we are talking about female equality, but back then there was female superiority (she laughed) though it’s all changed now.” 

Known for her passion for academics, Dr. Kanaka embarked on research even as a medical student at MMC. She undertook several research projects during the third and fourth year of MBBS, a rare feat for an undergraduate student. But that did not make her journey any easy. She finally got her way and was admitted to the MS course as the only woman among the eight students. 

Even post her admission into the degree course, she was not given the permission to watch emergencies and her teachers where highly skeptical of giving her the knife or scalpel. The agony did not end there. Every time she wrote the exam the examiner failed her. But she not give up. She passed the MS examination on her sixth attempt by fighting every possible tooth and nail. From here young Dr. Kanaka’s journey took her to serve the Indian Army as an officer-surgical specialist. But unfortunately, due to a prolonged lingering illness she could not pursue the post for long. After her health improvement, she returned back to Madras Medical College and joined the neurosurgical wing, dreaming to become a neurosurgeon. The post of an assistant to a surgeon did not come easily either. She turned lucky when an assistant surgeon had to go on leave for training and she was posted in his place. It was under Dr. A. Venugopal that she formally became a surgeon. Later neurosurgeon Dr. B. Ramamurthy's tutorship helped her hone her skills. Under the guidance and teachings of a few esteemed surgeons who sharpen her skills and knowledge, helped her become the first few women neurosurgeons of the world.

Struggles were aplenty even after this. Her academic papers were scrutinised by fellow researchers in the United States. Today, Dr. Kanaka is among the handful of women neurosurgeons who have set an example for other women. Her favourite subject is deep brain stimulation, and she has presented several papers on it. During her several lecture tours in India, she has impressed upon scientists to develop deep brain stimulation kits locally, but says she has not succeeded. The kit is used in stereotaxic surgeries. “My job is not done until India develops its own kit for cost-effective treatment,” says Dr. Kanaka, who remained single to devote herself to medicine. 

Over the years, her zeal and thirst for the subject have inspired her to conduct comprehensive research in the field of neurosurgery. An expert in the field of brain simulation, Dr. Kanaka has dedicated her entire life to the field of medicine. With many accolades to her credit, the one striking one, is that , she is known to be an active blood donor all her life. She was formerly listed in the Limca Book of Records for the highest number of blood donations by an individual. As of 2004 she was noted to have donated blood 139 times.

By the way, she doesn’t stop there . Her hands are currently full with a pet project of designing an implantable deep brain stimulation kit that would act like a boon for cerebral palsy patients. A humanist at heart, she is also quiet active at Sri Santhanakrishna Padmavathi Health Care & Research Centre, which stands tall on a plot adjoining her home. Named after her parents, the center conducts various talks on health thereby creating awareness on medical problems.

Currently, Dr Kanaka, under her parents’ name, also runs a trust and a healthcare wellness cum research centre near her house at Chromepet in Chennai. When she retired, she wanted to build an old age home with her retirement money. She went for help to HelpAge India. The person said, “You were literally living in your office at the hospital for 40 years now; you cannot run a home. Think of something else.” She kept thinking throughout her train journey back home and that was what served as her Bodhi tree. She established a ‘wellness centre’. She has a clinic where she listens to the problems of the elderly. They have simple problems like memory defects, insomnia, drowsiness, giddiness, fatigue, tremors, unsteady gait, falls, pain, urinary incontinence etc, which seem very unnoticeable problems to the youngsters in their family and the young doctors. They need someone they could talk to about their problems. She’s doing that. Now that she’s in their age she can understand their problems.

Undoubtedly, she is an aspiration for every person and holds a special place in the heart of womanhood. 

Source: Google search and Wikipedia.