Rupa Bai Firdounji | |
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 Rupa Bai Firdounji along with Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton sitting on her left | |
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| Died | |
| Occupation | Anesthetist |
Rupa Bai Furdoonji, born to a Parsi family, was the world's first female anesthetist. [1] She practiced medicine in Hyderabad, and played a major role in introducing the use of chloroform as an anesthetic in India.[ citation needed ]
In 1885, Furdoonji began her studies and was one of five women to enroll in medical courses at Hyderabad Medical College. [1] In 1889, she obtained a degree of Hakeem, equivalent to that of a Medical Doctor. Subsequently, she pursued a medical degree from Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. [2] [1] [3] In 1909, with the encouragement from Annie Besant, Furdoonji went to Edinburgh, Scotland, to gain more experience and knowledge in anesthetics. There, she obtained diplomas in Physics and Chemistry from The University of Edinburgh since no specialized course emphasized anesthetics. [1] She chose to study Physics and Chemistry because the knowledge of these subjects was found useful for the doctors who handled anesthetics. [1]
Furdoonji was an influential voice at the First and Second Hyderabad Chloroform Commissions held in 1888 and 1891 respectively. From 1889 to 1917 she had administered anaesthesia in the British residency hospital-(present Sultan Bazaar hospital), Afzalgunz Hospital (present Osmania General Hospital) and Victoria Zenana Maternity Hospital, Hyderabad. In 1920, she retired as the superintendent of Chaderghat Hospital, Hyderabad. [1] [4]
Anesthesia or anaesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia, paralysis, amnesia, and unconsciousness. An individual under the effects of anesthetic drugs is referred to as being anesthetized.
Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with the formula CHCl3 and a common solvent. It is a very volatile, colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and PTFE. Chloroform is a trihalomethane that serves as a powerful anesthetic, euphoriant, anxiolytic, and sedative when inhaled or ingested. Chloroform was used as an anesthetic between the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. It is miscible with many solvents but it is only very slightly soluble in water.
Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, and pain medicine. A physician specialized in anesthesiology is called an anesthesiologist, anaesthesiologist, or anaesthetist, depending on the country. In some countries, the terms are synonymous, while in other countries, they refer to different positions and anesthetist is only used for non-physicians, such as nurse anesthetists.
A nurse anesthetist is an advanced practice nurse who administers anesthesia for surgery or other medical procedures. Nurse anesthetists (NA's) administer or participate in administration of anesthesia services in 107 countries, working with or without anesthesiologists. Because of different historical backgrounds, anesthetist responsibilities and roles vary widely between countries. Depending on the locality, their role may be limited to intraoperative care during anesthesia itself or may also extend before and after. The International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists was established in 1989 as a forum for developing standards of education, practice, and a code of ethics.
A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradition. Despite the historical distinction in nomenclature, these degrees are typically combined and conferred together. This degree is usually awarded as an undergraduate degree, but it can also be awarded at graduate-level medical institutions. The typical duration for completion is five to six years.
An inhalational anesthetic is a chemical compound possessing general anesthetic properties that is delivered via inhalation. They are administered through a face mask, laryngeal mask airway or tracheal tube connected to an anesthetic vaporiser and an anesthetic delivery system. Agents of significant contemporary clinical interest include volatile anesthetic agents such as isoflurane, sevoflurane and desflurane, as well as certain anesthetic gases such as nitrous oxide and xenon.
Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet,, was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans and helped to popularise its use in medicine.
James Marion Sims was an American physician in the field of surgery. His most famous work was the development of a surgical technique for the repair of vesicovaginal fistula, a severe complication of obstructed childbirth. He is also remembered for inventing the Sims speculum, Sims sigmoid catheter, and the Sims position. Against significant opposition, he established, in New York, the first hospital specifically for women. He was forced out of the hospital he founded because he insisted on treating cancer patients; he played a small role in the creation of the nation's first cancer hospital, which opened after his death.
The Edinburgh Seven were the first group of matriculated undergraduate female students at any British university. They began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1869 and, although the Court of Session ruled that they should never have been admitted, and they did not graduate or qualify as doctors, the campaign they fought gained national attention and won them many supporters, including Charles Darwin. Their campaign put the demands of women for a university education on the national political agenda, and eventually resulted in legislation to ensure that women could be licensed to practice medicine in 1876.
Osmania Medical College, formerly known as Hyderabad Medical School, is a public medical college in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was founded in 1846 by the 5th Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, Afzal ud Dowla, Asaf Jah V. The college was originally affiliated to Osmania University system, now it is affiliated to the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, and the Osmania General Hospital. After the establishment of the Osmania University in 1919, the school was renamed Osmania Medical College, after the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan.
The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supported and helped found the London School of Medicine for Women wanted to provide educated women with the necessary facilities for learning and practicing midwifery and other branches of medicine while also promoting their future employment in the fields of midwifery and other fields of treatment for women and children.
The Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women was founded by Sophia Jex-Blake in Edinburgh, Scotland, in October 1886, with support from the National Association for Promoting the Medical Education of Women. Sophia Jex-Blake was appointed as both the Director and the Dean of the School. The first class of women to study at the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women consisted of eight students, the youngest of whom was nineteen years of age. Throughout its twelve years in operation, the school struggled to find financial funding to remain open. A rival institution, the Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women, set up by Elsie Inglis with the help of her father John Inglis, attracted several students of Jex-Blake, including Martha Cadell and Grace Cadell. St Mungo's College and Queen Margaret College in Glasgow also accepted women medical students and when the Scottish universities began to do so the Edinburgh School of Medicine could no longer compete. The school closed in 1898. Over the twelve years of its operation, the Edinburgh School of Medicine provided education to approximately eighty female students. Of those eighty students, thirty-three completed the full course of medical training at the Edinburgh School while many others chose to finish their education at outside institutions.
The University of Edinburgh Medical School is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. It was established in 1726, during the Scottish Enlightenment, making it the oldest medical school in the United Kingdom and the oldest medical school in the English-speaking world.
Joseph Thomas Clover was an English doctor and innovator of anaesthesia. He invented a variety of pieces of apparatus to deliver anaesthetics, including ether and chloroform, safely and controllably. By 1871 he had administered anaesthetics 13,000 times without a fatality.
Throughout recorded history, attempts at producing a state of general anesthesia can be traced back to the writings of ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese. Despite significant advances in anatomy and surgical technique during the Renaissance, surgery remained a last-resort treatment largely due to the pain associated with it. However, scientific discoveries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries paved the way for the development of modern anesthetic techniques.
Standardized training programs for anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists emerged during this period.
Dr Robert Mortimer Glover FRSE (1815-1859) was an English physician. In 1838 he co-founded the Paris Medical Society and served as its first Vice President. He won the Medical Society of London’s Fothergill Gold Medal in 1846 for his lecture "On the Pathology and Treatment of Scrofula". Some 5 years prior to James Young Simpson’s use of chloroform on human patients in 1842 Glover discovered its anaesthetic qualities on laboratory animals. He is sometimes called "the true discoverer of chloroform". In an ironic twist of fate he died from a chloroform overdose.
Obstetric anesthesia or obstetric anesthesiology, also known as ob-gyn anesthesia or ob-gyn anesthesiology, is a sub-specialty of anesthesiology that provides peripartum pain relief (analgesia) for labor and anesthesia for cesarean deliveries ('C-sections').
The Hyderabad Chloroform Commission was commissioned in Hyderabad by the then ruler of Hyderabad State, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan. The first Chloroform Commission was gathered in the year 1888 to assess the toxicity of chloroform when used in humans to allow for painless operations. The second commission was formed in the year 1891. Thus making Hyderabad the first to use the chloroform in a medical field.
Alexander Crombie was a Scottish surgeon who joined the Indian Medical Service and became resident surgeon at Calcutta Medical College, India, where he became professor of materia medica.
The standard entry-to-practice degree in modern evidence-based medicine in India is the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). Alternative systems of Medicine in India are Ayurveda (BAMS), Unani (BUMS), Siddha(BSMS), Homeopathy (BHMS). M.B.B.S. a credential earned upon completion of a five-and-a-half-year undergraduate program. The curriculum is divided into one year of preclinical studies in general science subjects and three and a half years of paraclinical and clinical studies, followed by a one-year clinical internship. Before beginning the internship, students are required to pass several examinations, the final one of which is conducted in two parts. Postgraduate education in medical specialties typically takes 3 additional years of study after the MBBS and concludes with the award of a Master of Surgery or Doctor of Medicine(MD). Postgraduate diplomas in medical specialities may also be awarded upon the completion of two-year training programs. After that a person can further get a degree in superspeciality in his or her respective branch after successful completion of 3 years of superspeciality in a medical college.