In what has become a huge loss for the medical industry, Dr Sarada Menon, India's first woman psychiatrist, has passed away on Sunday at the age of 98 in a Chennai hospital due to age-related ailments. Being a stalwart in psychiatry, Menon was widely popular across and beyond the country for her unparalleled and iconic contribution towards rescuing people who suffer from mental disorders. 

Menon, a Padma Bhushan laureate, had committed her life to psychiatry. She was born in a Malayali family on 5 April 1923 as the youngest of eight children of her parents in Mangalore, Karnataka. Her father was a judge and when he got transferred to Chennai, Sarada moved with him to Chennai and had done her schooling at Good Shepherd School and later at Christ Church Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School. She had graduated from Women's Christian College. 

She went on to have a graduation in medicine from Madras Medical College in 1951 and then joined Madras Medical Service in 1951 to start her career at Pittapuram Mission Hospital in Andhra Pradesh. She had then successfully completed the Diploma in Psychiatric Medicine in psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bengaluru and with this graduation, she had become the first woman psychiatrist in India and she was active for seven decades, since 1951. 

Menon had joined the Institute of Mental Health in what was known as Government Mental Hospital in Kilpauk in 1959 and she became its first woman Superintendent in 1961. It was during her tenure, the institution started the department of psychiatry and she held a paramount role in establishing regional psychiatric centres at all the district hospitals in the state. She had authored several papers on mental health and she was conferred with the Padma Bhushan award in 1992. 

Menon was a pivotal force behind initiating the participation of social organizations in the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients. In 1984, she, along with some like-minded people, founded Schizophrenia Research Foundation, a non-profit organization, for the rehabilitation of people afflicted with schizophrenia and other mental diseases. In years, it has become a key organization in India to fight against mental disorders and is one of the few Indian institutions recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Training. 

She also had served as the Vice-President of the Chennai chapter of the Red Cross Society and was a member of the state government panel set up for proposing prison reforms. Besides receiving the Padma Bhushan award, she was also a recipient of the Best Doctor Award from the Tamil Nadu government, Best Employer Award from the Indian government, Special Award of the International Association of Psycho-Social Rehabilitation. In 2016, the government of Tamil Nadu had conferred her with the 'Avvaiyyar' Award and she was also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of Madras Neuro Trust. 

Menon, who was the longest-serving head of the Institute of Mental Health, had been suffering from age-related ailments for the past few days and she was hospitalized in Chennai. She had breathed her last on Sunday at the age of 98. After learning about her demise, several people have been paying tributes to her. Lakshmi Vijayakumar, the founder of Sneha, an organization that works for suicide prevention, said that she had never missed Sarada Menon's classes. 

Lakshmi Vijayakumar said to a news agency, "She had got retired before I joined my postgraduate in psychiatry. But she was a passionate teacher who ensured that she continued to teach and train all of us." She had touched thousands of lives and inspired millions across the country. Her body was kept for the public to pay homage on Monday. In his tribute message, actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan said, "I was saddened to hear the news of the demise of Dr Sarada Menon, who worked for the betterment of the mentally ill. She has dedicated her entire life to caring for and rehabilitating mentally ill patients. My tributes." 

மனநலம் பாதித்தவர்களின் மேம்பாட்டுக்காக சேவையாற்றி வந்த மருத்துவர் சாரதா மேனன் மறைந்த செய்தி கேட்டு துயருற்றேன். தன் மொத்த வாழ்வையும் மன நோயாளிகளைப் பேணவும் மறுவாழ்வு அளிக்கவும் அர்ப்பணித்துக்கொண்டவர். அஞ்சலிகள்.

— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) December 6, 2021