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Dr. L. N. VIRASINGHE - CHINNAPPA
Dr. Lucia Navamani Virasinghe- Chinnappa (30 December 1892 – 13 April 1980.) was a physician and medical pioneer on the Indian sub-continent, and recipient of the Kaiser -I- Hind (1937) and the Bar to the Kaiser-I- Hind (1941) for public service in India.
| Born | 30 December 1892, Nawalapitiya, Ceylon. |
| Died | 13 April 1980, Canberra, Australia |
| Spouse | J. Chelvanayagam Chinnappa M.A. |
| Children | J. Chandrasekeran Chinnappa, B.E., C.Eng., Ph.D., D.I.C.
Malati Rajasingham (nee Chinnappa) M.B.B.S., T.D.D., D.C.H., D.P.H. |
Family
Dr. L. N. Virasinghe -Chinnappa, was born on the 30th of December, 1892, in a small parish of Nawalapitiya, on the hills of Ceylon where her father the Rev. Arulambalam R. Virasinghe (1860 – 1915) was parish priest of the Anglican Church. Much later he served as priest at Christ Church Galle Face in Colombo[1].
Arulambalam’s father was the eldest son of the Virasinghe Udaiyar of Neerveli (1820 – 1905), grandson of Shanmuga Udaiyar of Manipay (1780 - ), Great grandson of Ethirmanasingham Virasingham Mudaliar (1710- ), Great Great Grandson of Viswasingham Ethirmanasingham Mudaliar (1670 - ) and Great Great Great Grandson of Maanapillai Mudali of Inuvil (1640 - ). His mother Indumathi was the daughter of Ponnambalam and the niece of Sivasangara Pandithar of Neerveli in Jaffna. Arulampalam took his religion seriously and when he left school took the decision to become a Christian Priest. He was consequently disowned by his family where a ceremony akin to a funeral service was performed. He willingly renounced titles and inheritance at that time.
Her maternal ancestry like her father’s was largely drawn from the nobility of Jaffna of which a few in the 1800’s were attracted to Christian values and became Christian priests. Her mother Muthamma, was the Grand daughter of Rev. John Hensman (Murugesar Naganathan (1817 – 1884) . She was the daughter of Rev. D. P. Niles – the son of Velauthar Kathiresar (1817-1882) who was ordained later in life as a Christian Priest and served in Vannarpannai – and orthodox Hindu center. Rev. D.P. Niles is also the grand father of Rev. Dr. D.T. Niles[2] – later President of the World Council of Churches.
Education
Her early education was at St. Margaret’s[3] Anglican Convent, Colombo which was full of rich and inspiring experiences which she recorded in her diary. In her later life she would often relate how the teachings and principles of the nuns at the convent influenced her values. After an academically rewarding and joyful school life-winning many prizes she entered the Madras Medical College[4] at the age of seventeen in 1909. She was the youngest student in her class.
She was one of the first three women to obtain the MBBS degree from Madras Medical College, the others being Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy the first woman legislator in India and her classmate Dr. Hilda Lazarus, F.R.C.O.G., C.B.E.
Upon graduation she received the following awards:
The Bharathi Lakshmi Gold Medal.
The Raja Sir Ramaswami Gold Medal.
The Balfour Memorial Gold Medal of the University of Madras.
Career and Life Mission
It was in 1917, that the Madras Corporation[5], the first in all India to do so, appointed a medical woman to take charge of a comprehensive Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme. Dr. Virasinghe was appointed to be in charge of this scheme. There were then four untrained women who were appointed as midwives. In any pioneer scheme the type of personnel employed at the start cannot be overestimated and Dr. Virasinghe wrote:
- "The first thing I had to do was to get educated women trained as midwives, so Government scholarships were provided. The next step was to send some of the midwives to be trained as health visitors, and so the training school of health visitors was started".
And lastly came the women medical officers with their special expertise and the centers grew and multiplied and supplied a network of service the quality of which steadily improved against great odds. The aims of this service even by modern standards was futuristic. Deeply concerned about motherhood, she loved children and was well aware of their function in family and country again with that depth of understanding gifted to few. Her determination was to create an atmosphere for expectant mothers and their children, where they could reach their full and glorious potential. She wrote in those early days
- "It is an accepted principle, that birth is not the beginning of an infants life, and accordingly, emphasis should be placed on antenatal care and the early development in infants, when the environment is the mother".
Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa always maintained that the success of the scheme was due to the devotion of those fine women, with their inherent Indian respect for motherhood.
Carrying with her all the experience gained in her work in the Corporation and her inherent strength and remarkable qualities she began the scheme initially in four Districts, and against tremendous odds, established a scheme covering the whole presidency, guiding the personnel of the scheme and educating local bodie3 on their functions and aims until her retirement in 1948, There are now fully qualified midwives, health visitors and women doctors in every district. She wrote:
- "We need homes for our people instead of dark disease breeding cells, open playgrounds for our children instead of “cherries”; fresh milk and fresh air for our babies instead of tinned tapioca rice “cunjee” and the incantations and manthras of the vaidiyan; Fresh nutritive foods for our mothers and children instead of drugs with latin names; we need clean bodies and skins instead of matted hair. We need to educate and train young minds rather than make feeble, sporadic and fruitless, but expensive, attempts to cure the evils of ignorance and superstition. All these we need to undertake not as charitable deeds to merit heaven, but because it is our plain and simple duty to the land we love".
Ahead of her retirement Mahatma Gandhi requested her to extend her work by seeding initiatives in the rest of India – now India, Pakistan and Bangaladesh. Towards this end she had initiated maternity and child health initiatives in the Bombay Presidency and in Ceylon.
Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa retired from Public Service in 1948 from her position of Deputy Director of Public Health (Maternity and Child Health) for the Presidency of Madras.
Her daughter’s DPH thesis[DPH Thesis - Dr. Malati Rajasingham University of London 1] was on Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa’s pioneering work (Ref: “ The Development of the Maternity and Child welfare scheme in Madras State” Dr. Malathi Rajasingham. MBBS, DCH, CPH. University of London).
Later Years
After her retirement when Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa spoke when she opened the Golden Jubilee Celebrations and Exhibition of the Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme in 1967, she said
- "Little was it realized by the pioneers of the Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme that so much progress would be made and such great results achieved when the mere existence and the continuation of the scheme was threatened by so many factors. There was a time, when apart from obstacles placed by many organizations, the women workers who first started in the scheme faced great hardship. Before they attended to a case. they were threatened with physical violence in the event of the patient they attended to, not having a successful delivery. Sometimes these valiant workers were summoned to the complicated cases, (e.g. advanced eclamsia), the patient not having been permitted by the family to attend any antenatal clinics! “
However, they fought courageously on serving the people, receiving constant support, guidance and encouragement from Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa.
Personal life
Dr. Virasinghe married her mother’s cousin Chelvanayagam Chinnappa in 1921. He inspired and supported her in all she did, while receiving government recognition for his own contribution in his field as Lecturer in Mathematics at Presidency College Madras and later as the first Indian to run the Education Ministry for the Madras Presidency. However, Mr. JC Chinnappa died at the age of fifty four while still in service formally as Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Madras Presidency.
She wrote:
- “I married Chelvam Chinnappa in 1921, after having inaugurated and organized the Madras Corporation Child Welfare Scheme, from December, 1917; holding off from marriage until the scheme was made permanent in 1921. Municipal Politics and Municipal Service-what a study of human conditions and human life and personality they provided for me - so young at 23 years of age with a fresh and so idealistic outlook on life. Brick by brick, soaked in tears and blood of effort and suffering, the work was built up, standing as firm as a rock to this day, providing employment, avenues for realizing ideals in service to workers and relief to thousands of women in the city, building up a healthy, vigorous civic life, in the community of parents and children, so ably served by the staff of the Child welfare Scheme Corporation' of Madras for 39 years. My husband Chelvam was the most understanding guide and friend I had all the years in 1918 when we were engaged, to 1937 when he died.”
Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa and J.Chelvanayagam Cinnappa had two children. J Chanrasekeran Virasinghe-Chinnappa and Malati Rajasingham, and have 5 grand children: Chandrasekeran Sanjivi Rajaisngham; Arjuna Indraeswaran Rajasingham, Renuka Chinnappa, Prabhakar Chelvanayagam Rajasingham and Premilla Chinnappa.
Reflections and legacy
The success of the Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme was reflected not only in public demand and government support but also in the press and the need for a comprehensive scheme to cover the Madras Presidency - an area of about 125, 500 square miles, and including 23 districts from Vizagapatnam in the North to Thirunelveli in the South. In 1931, Madras was again the first province in all India to appoint an Assistant Director of Public Health in charge of Maternity & Child Welfare. It is intersting to note that the appointment was sanctioned by government on the resolution moved by the first woman to be elected to the legislature and appointed deputy speaker of the council, Dr. Muthulakshimi Reddy.
Dr. Virasinghe-Chinnappa's determination, dedication and fearlessness in doing what she believed to be right inspired all who had to work with her and in the end earned citations from the highest places, including the Count Willington - Viceroy of India. She was also awarded many medals for public service in addition to the Kaiser-i-Hind medal and subsequently the bar to it. Her legacy stands in impacting the welfare of children and reducing the infant and maternal mortality on the Indian Sub-continent. In her retirement, Dr. Chinnappa spent much of her time on boards and committees funding the charities of public and charitable institutions including the Christian Medical College, Vellore where she was on its Board during its formative years, and the Y.W. C. A. Madras where she was elected President.
- ^ "Home Page | Christ Church Galle Face (Tamil)". Retrieved 2020-07-22.
- ^ "D. T. Niles", Wikipedia, 2020-03-23, retrieved 2020-07-22
- ^ "Commemoration of 150 years at St". www.worldgenweb.org. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
- ^ "Madras Medical College", Wikipedia, 2020-07-19, retrieved 2020-07-22
- ^ "Welcome to Greater Chennai Corporation". www.chennaicorporation.gov.in. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
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