Dr Armida Fernandez, the neonatologist who established Asia’s first human milk bank in 1989, was awarded the Padma Shri. The 83-year-old is among 15 awardees from Maharashtra named in the Padma honors announced by the Centre.
Dr Fernandez, who hails from Karnataka, is the founding administrator of urban health NGO Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (SNEHA). A Mumbai-based pediatrician, he is credited with setting up Asia’s first human milk bank at the Municipal General Hospital and Lokmanya Tilak Medical College. Widely regarded as the “mother of Indian neonatology”, her work has focused on nutrition and has been instrumental in transforming pediatric care in India.
While the milk bank, which significantly contributed to reducing infant mortality, is among her best-known achievements, Dr. Fernández’s career spans several pioneering initiatives. She played a key role in introducing one of India’s first doctoral programs in neonatology, served as dean of LTMG Hospital, also known as Sion Hospital, and expanded healthcare beyond the hospital walls to slum communities through SNEHA. In later years, he founded one of the few free palliative care centers in Mumbai.
“Dr. Fernandez was first my teacher, then my colleague, then head of the neonatology department and then dean of Sion Hospital for three years before retiring in 2001,” said Dr. Jayshree Mondkar, former dean of the hospital and a close collaborator.
Despite resistance to the concept of feeding babies donated human milk (an unknown and largely unaccepted practice at the time), Dr. Fernández persisted. Initially, the milk bank operated for five years with the support of private donors before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation took over. It also introduced low-cost innovations, such as using ceiling lamps to provide warmth for newborns, Dr. Mondkar said.
“It allowed mothers into the neonatal unit to participate in the care of their babies, at a time when it was frowned upon by most doctors for fear of increasing the risk of infection. This was proven false and is now well established to protect babies,” Dr Mondkar said.
“When she became dean, she convened all the department heads to build a vision for the medical school and the hospital,” said Dr. Shanti Pantvaidya, then head of the anesthesiology department. “That was completely unique and exciting, because no one had done that before.”
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In 1999, Dr. Fernandez took healthcare beyond the hospital setting by launching SNEHA with a group of philanthropists and neonatologists. The initiative, focused on urban health in informal settlements, departed from the public health discourse of the time, which was largely focused on rural areas.
“It started working on maternal and neonatal health and prevention of violence against women and children, and grew to include child care and nutrition, and then expanded to adolescent health,” Dr Pantvaidya said. “In all of this, she built these institutions and then handed them over to others to manage without any possessiveness.”
Today, SNEHA has a workforce of over 500 people and works in slum communities in Mumbai.
“It is an extremely enjoyable process to work with someone who has genuine concern, vision and perseverance to achieve a solution. Dr Fernandez is very deserving of the Padma Shri, and the award is an encouraging moment that perhaps there is room for goodness after all,” said Dr Pantvaidya.
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In 2017, Dr. Fernández came full circle by starting a free palliative care center in memory of her daughter Romila, who had died a few years earlier from cancer. The center, largely run by volunteers and open to all, provides medical and emotional care to terminally ill patients.