Dr Sushila Nayar – Gandhi’s Doctor and a Messiah of Public Health in India

In 1977, Dr Sushila Nayar retired from the political arena and continued working for the upliftment of society.

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In a chilly winter morning of December 26, 1914, an era where the birth of a female child was considered a burden, a girl named Sushila Nayar was born in a middle-class family.

She grew up to be a mettlesome young woman who was determined to create change by improvising health care sector in India and providing healthcare services to the underprivileged section of the society who had zero access medical care. Her life was not a fairy tale but rather an astounding saga of sacrifices and accomplishments.

Dr Sushila Nayar belonged from Kunjah, a small town in the Gujarat district of Punjab (now in Pakistan). From a young age, Mahatma Gandhi’s social and political philosophies deeply captivated her. Since the very beginning she was in a close association with Gandhi ji as her brother Pyarelal Nayar was a personal secretary of Gandhi.

Dr Sushila travelled to Delhi and earned degrees, MBBS and MD from Lady Hardinge Medical College, a college that was formed in 1916 and became a part of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi in 1950.


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From Sevagram to Freedom Struggle

After graduating in 1939, her brother, Pyarelal Nayar brought her to Sevagram where Dr B.C Roy told her to look after Gandhiji as he had high blood pressure but soon after, this fresh graduate, witnessed the outbreak of Cholera in Sevagram. She managed the cases unassisted and was able to fight against cholera outbreak in the city of Wardha. This sculpted her career and gave her a lifelong experience.

Her stay in Sevagram not only provided her with spiritual and nationalistic perspectives, but also allowed her to witness community medicine in a village. This feat of leadership caught Gandhi’s attention, and he praised her courage, capability and commitment to public service. Soon after Gandhi appointer Nayar as his personal physician and from then on she became an integral part of the “Quit India Movement”.

Sushila stood beside Gandhi during his struggle for India’s freedom. She played a leading role in the Quit India Movement. This courageous woman, defying the British Raj with unwavering determination, found herself arrested and imprisoned alongside Kasturba Gandhi in the Aga Khan Palace jail.

Dr Sushila along with Mahatma Gandhi visited Khwaja Abdul Hamied, founder of Cipla Pharmaceuticals for supporting him to produce essentials medications since the Indians were boycotting all the British goods including their drugs.


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Building a Legacy of Healthcare

However, the larger goal was to provide proper healthcare to economically backward individuals. Since there were no medical facilities in and around Sevagram, in 1944, she started a small dispensary in the ashram. There she started treating the victims of the pre-partition riots of Noakhali, Punjab and Kashmir.

Its growing popularity allowed her to move out into a small clinic donated by G D Birla. This clinic was to become a seed of a hospital, and in 1945, her dream came true with the establishment of the Kasturba Hospital (now the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences). She continued to be its founder- director until her death.

With just 15 beds, the hospital began as a child and maternity hospital, which functioned under the ashram’s care from 1948 to 1954. In the next few years, the hospital developed into Kasturba Health Society, thanks to her incessant efforts to take medicine to all.

She started the Kasturba Health Society. Nayar was also Chairman of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust and the Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, a University started by Gandhi.

Impactful Journey in Post-Independence India

Following the assassination of Gandhi, Dr Sushila moved to United States and received two degrees in Public Health, Masters of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) from John Hopkins School of Public Health. She returned back to India in 1950 and developed multiple healthcare programs.

In 1952, when the first election took place in India, Dr Sushila entered into the world of politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi (1952 – 1956). Later she became the first health minister of Delhi in Nehru’s cabinet and served until 1955.

Dr. Sushila Nayar, during her tenure as Minister of Health, spearheaded the launch of several critical health programs aimed at tackling and controlling diseases like malaria, venereal diseases, tuberculosis, and leprosy. From 1962 – 1967 she served as a Union Health Minister.


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Advocacy for Prohibition and Literary Contributions

Nayar was a social reformer who strongly believed and considered alcohol as evil. She joined the prohibition committee and remained its chairperson for over three decades.

In 1977, Dr Sushila retired from the political arena and continued working for the upliftment of society. She wrote an award-winning book “Bapu ki Karawas kahani” which receives a presidential award in 1952.

Her brother, Pyarelal Nayar also wrote books in three volumes on Gandhi but could not continue due to his death. It was Dr Sushila Nayar who completed the remaining five volumes of this series.

Awards and a Lifetime of Service

Dr Nayar also received multiple awards such as “Desikottam” by Vishwa Bharati University Shantiniketan in 1995; The “Amol Prabha Das Award” by the Government of Assam in 1996; The “Ba and Bapu” award by Ba-Bapu Samiti, Pune in 1997. Dr. Sushila Nayar’s unwavering dedication to public health earned her the prestigious “Public Health Person of the Millennium Award” in 2000. These are just to name a few.

Dr Sushila Nayar remained unmarried her entire life and on 3 January 2001, Dr Sushila died due to a cardiac arrest at an age of 86. Nayar spent her entire life executing Gandhi’s ideologies by working continuously in bringing peace and maintaining communal harmony during the period of partition. With her inspiring & charismatic personality, she was a beacon of feminism at a time when women were considered as a burden in society!


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Dr. Zareen Fatima https://instagram.com/dr.zareenfatima

Dr Zareen is an ambitious general dentist working and residing in UAE. She is able to handle multiple tasks on a daily basis. Alongside her busy work schedule, she is a vivid reader, researcher, writer editor and is currently pursuing Masters in Public Health. In her leisure she brings out the forgotten history in the field of medicine and associated disciplines.