Furdoonji was the first

An article in the Indian Journal of Anesthesiology 2006 features a group photograph of the participants of the Second Hyderabad Chloroform Commission (1888-89) showing Dr Roopa Bai Furdoonji flanked by Drs Edward Lawrie and Thomas Lauder Brunton. Demurely dressed in the traditional Parsi kor-ni-sari worn over her head in a sor, she is the only woman in the group. Furdoonji was perhaps the world’s first woman anesthesiologist. (Unfortunately, the photograph was too grainy to reproduce.)

Chloroform was first used during surgery by James Young Simpson as an anesthetic in Edin­­burgh on November 15, 1847. A mere two months later, on January 12, 1848 it was administered in India. However, its use was mired in controversy because of its cardiac toxicity. The First Chloroform Commission was formed by Lawrie in Hyderabad in 1888 which reported on its safety as an anesthetic. The Second Hyderabad Chloroform Commission, including a representative of the British medical journal Lancet, was set up in 1888-89. Brunton and Furdoonji were members of this commission, along with Lawrie. Furdoonji was singled out for special mention in the final report for her administration of chloroform to human beings and in animal experiments. The Commission concluded that chloroform was not directly injurious to the heart and it killed only by its effect on respiration.

Furdoonji later received advanced training in Edinburgh and worked as a full time anesthesiologist at The British Residency Hospital in Hyderabad, probably the first woman in the world qualified for this work. Not much is known about her, not even her dates of birth and death. She remained unmarried. However, a relative, Hormus Kausji, a historian attached to the Nizam’s palace, preserved three of her certificates. One of them, dated from the time of the Second Hyderabad Chloroform Commission, is signed by Lawrie in his capacity as principal of the Medical School and enumerates her attainments in medicine. Another records the fact that she had taken part in a pathology course in Hyderabad. The third certificate is from the University of Edinburgh certifying that she has passed the University’s professional examination in chemistry.

A poster of Furdoonji was specially prepared and prominently displayed at the mobile outreach program conducted by the department of anesthesiology of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Poona in the week preceding October 16, 2005, to increase awareness about anesthesia, as mentioned in an article written by Drs Lt Col Deepak K. Sreevastava and Col C. V. R. Mohan (associate professor and professor and head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, AFMC, respectively) and published in the Indian Journal of Anesthesiology 2006. A copy of the article was forwarded to Parsiana by Trichur-based plastic surgeon Dr Hirji Adenwalla of the Smile Train fame ("Making them smile,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, March 21, 2007).