Motibai Kapadia

Motibai Rustomji Kapadia (1867–1930), is credited as the first Indian female physician in Western medicine to have trained alongside men in India. In 1884 she gained admission to Grant Medical College, Mumbai, from where she graduated. After gaining her Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) she was appointed to head the Victoria Jubilee Hospital for women in Ahmedabad. In 1891, she qualified FRCS.

In 1911 Kapadia received the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in the 1911 Delhi Durbar Honours following the Coronation of George V and Mary.

Early life and education
Motibai Kapadia was born in 1867 in Mumbai, then Bombay, into a wealthy Parsi family. In 1884, with permission from her father and despite opposition from others she knew, Kapadia gained admission to Mumbai's Grant Medical College through the Dufferin Fund. She travelled to England and received the LRCP in 1888, along with Rattonbai Malabari. She has been credited with being the first Indian female physician in Western medicine to have trained alongside men in India, and Grant's first Indian female graduate.

Career
In 1889, after returning from Britain, the indiastrialist Ranchhodlal Chhotalal appointed Kapadia in charge of his newly established Victoria Jubilee Hospital and its dispensary in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, then in Bombay Presidency. There, she was a well known lady doctor, who accomplished good work, and remained in that post for 36 years. In 1891, she qualified FRCS. In Ahmedabad, she lived in a street somewhere bewtween Kalupur and Khadia. In 1897, she was chosen to represent the Ladies Club at Ahmedabad to deliver the draft English address in preparation for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Later life
Kapadia later travelled back to Britain, after which she returned to India on the SS Devanha in 1921. According to Canadian educator Geraldine Forbes, Western medicine expanded in Bengal as a result of hospital assistants who trained in that field by physicians from Bombay that included Kapadia.

Awards
On 12 December 1911 Kapadia received the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in the 1911 Delhi Durbar Honours following the Coronation of George V and Mary.

Death and legacy
Kapdia died in 1930. Historian Makrand Mehta credits Kapadia as a significant influencer of Gujarat. Author Kavitha Rao considered Kapadia notable enough to include her in her book Lady Doctors, though omitted her due to being unable to find enough archival material on her.